


I am Kuroko

by potato_teito



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Gen, M/M, cute and fluffy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 10:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6952531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potato_teito/pseuds/potato_teito
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroko Tetsuya woke up and found himself on rooftop of some school. He remembered nothing, neither his name nor his life. Practically, he is an amnesiac. Worst of all, he is a ghost and it came as a surprise to him. After all, he did not remember how he died and why he became a ghost. He decided to regain back his memories and passing away peacefully. What if the memories he try to gain are the ones he wants to forget the most?  Will the memories bring happiness to him? Or is it pain?<br/>His journey as a ghost begins here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> \- My English sucks and I know it!!  
> \- May contain grammatical errors, spelling mistakes  
> \- This is my first attempt in writing fanfiction literally. Believe me. I haven't tried any except my thesis and exam answers^^  
> \- I just want to get it out of my head

CHAPTER 1: FORGOTTEN MEMORIES

Kuroko Tetsuya stared intensely at the crimson sky above him as he woke up from his slumber. 

“Ahh, so beautiful,” he murmured. 

The silent and tranquility of the surroundings bring about a soothing feeling that makes him closed his eyes once more, appreciated the wonders of nature. Slowly, he opened his eyes and let out a small sighed. He looked around and wondered why he was out in the open and laid on the cold stone floor. 

“Where is this place? What am I doing here anyway?” Kuroko furrowed his brows. The place look unfamiliar to him. “Arrgh, why can’t I remember a thing?” he said in frustration. 

He racked his brain, thinking hard for few minutes but nothing comes to his mind. Truthfully, he did not remember anything that happened before he woke up, nothing at all even his own name.

“This is bad. My head started to throb painfully. I should stop thinking about it for now.” He brought his hands to the temple and rubbed it slowly and gently to ease down the pain. 

After a while, Kuroko stood and started to stretch his sore body which resulted from sleeping on the bare floor for who knows how long. After he deemed his body was in good condition, he walked around to take a look and accessed his surroundings to only found out that he was in one of the buildings in some unknown school. The school was really big and elegant. The facilities here were all expensive, top qualities and in good condition. Not to mention the huge courtyard with beautiful garden surrounded it which he passed by just now and the unique fountain in the middle of the pool with colorful fishes in it. 

“What kind of school is this to have such privilege? Is it even possible to enroll in here?” Kuroko question mentally. “I bet the students here are all rich kids and such,” Kuroko wondered. 

After a while, he finally found the school emblem with school name beneath it at the centre of the stage wall in the main hall. 

“TEIKOU MIDDLE SCHOOL, huh?” he said mentally. What caught his attention was the big, rectangular red banner in its glory which had some writing in the middle that read “VICTORY IS EVERYTHING” in black ink. 

Kuroko got the impression that the students here must strive and hunger for victory and of course defeat is unforgivable and not allowed or perhaps it must not even exist in their school life dictionary. Kuroko shuddered at the thought that crossed his mind after he read the motto.

Teikou Middle School. A prestigious middle school in Tokyo which excels in everything be in its administration, management, academic or extra co-curricular activities. The school is widely known in Japan for their numerous achievements and recognition in every aspects. Each year, almost 1000 new student applications was recorded for admission into the school and only selected students was given the opportunity to study there.

Of all their brilliant records, the most notable achievements was from the Teikou Middle School Basketball Club. It is a strong team with over one hundred members registered. Among them, five basketball prodigies were born with incredible talents that surpassed ordinary humans in their generations. Their presence were said to be a miracle itself. These five prodigies were known as “Generation of Miracles.” With their exceptional talents, they secured three consecutive national wins in basketball tournament. 

xXXx

Kuroko took his time and continued walking until he reached a building which looks like a gymnasium, at least to him. His ears perked up as he heard the sound of screeching shoes and bouncing ball against the floor. “Seems like someone still had their practice late at this hour.” Kuroko muttered to himself. 

“Well, it won’t hurt to take a look for a while or perhaps greet them while I’m at it. Who knows they might recognize me or for the better knew me personally because right now I knew nothing and I don’t have any valuable information as to who I am or anything about my life specifically.” Kuroko calculated as his feet made a turn to the gymnasium. 

He peeked inside the gymnasium through the half opened entrance door. “As expected, even their basketball gym is huge” was what came across his mind as Kuroko stood there in awe. Never did he knew he used to be there, running around playing basketball with his precious teammates. After all, he lose his memories, right?

Kuroko walked further in until he reached the side where 2 students took their break time and began packing their sports bag. One of them still practicing on dribbling in a zig-zag manner using small, orange cone as indicator and sometimes threw a shot in the hoop. Kuroko noticed he never missed any of the shoots and the shoots he made were all three pointers where the ball practically went into the hoop without touching the rim. 

“Amazing!!. Such a nice skill he got there.” Kuroko murmured, complimenting the player from afar. 

However, that was to be expected. The gymnasium Kuroko was in right now was for the first string players of Teikou Basketball Club members to practice. No wonder their skills were more refined and solid. The fact that they had undergone vigorous training and practice drills must not be taken lightly. 

“Guess I will wait for them until they finish their practice,” Kuroko noted as he did not want to interrupt. Being raised a prim and polite son by his parents, it is common courtesy to show proper manners.


	2. RESOLVE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Chapter 3 will take some time cause I need to sort things out first.  
> ~This story has slow plot development. So, bear with me
> 
> ~So,,,here you go. end of intro chapters. Enjoy^^  
> Do comment and critics..

The three members did not even noticed Kuroko was there the entire time and proceed to the locker room to take a bath and changing. Kuroko shrugged and decided to wait for them outside the gymnasium. After 15 minutes, they came out of the gymnasium wearing clean clothes. One of them parted ways with the other two and headed to the office room to hand over the key to the teacher. 

“Umm..excuse me”, Kuroko started.

“Gyaaahhhh!” Both members jumped and screamed unmanly after hearing Kuroko’s monotone voice. 

“Nanja koryaaa!!” One of them shouted in Kansai-ben while clutching tightly to his chest. He looked around and found no one else present in their vicinity. His face stiffen and his mouth dried. Slowly he turned to face his other friend. 

“Hey, yy-you..heard someone called us just now rr-right, Haruki?” He stuttered, his eyes contain a confused look and slight fear. The boy named Haruki nodded desperately while his body trembling with fear. They stood there silently as the cold wind blowing sent shiver down their spine. 

Kuroko stared at their unexpected reactions intensely. He felt sorry for surprising both poor innocent souls. Kuroko decided to greet them one more time and apologized for his sudden appearance earlier. Unfortunately, he stepped on dried leaves at the same time his right hand reached Haruki’s shoulder. Both shrieked and run for their life like one being hunted in the horror movies. 

“…….Ahh!! They fled…” Kuroko said in monotone voice. 

He let out a heavy sighed. So much for just a greeting. He then followed said students to the entrance gate where the other boy which handed the key was waiting. His face puzzled and confused as to why both of his friends look distracted and ignored him. 

“What took you so long?” He asked. Both freaked out and turned around to see a familiar face of none other than their friend. 

“ Damn it!!! Quit sneaking up on us, Mikoto!!!! Haruki burst in anger suddenly. He really did not enjoy getting caught off guard and it definitely not good for his heart.

“Wha….” Mikoto, the shooting guard wanted to protest but his word was cut off by Haruki. 

“I’ve had enough today.” he said after calming down. Mikoto sighed and just let it passed by as he saw both pale faces in front of him. 

“Let’s go home. It’s getting dark soon” Mikoto said and the three of them walked out the school gate. 

Kuroko watched as they walked towards where he was standing at the gate. He locked eyes with Mikoto guy for a moment and thought that Mikoto finally noticed him.

As they inched closer, Kuroko smiled at him and said “Ahh, I am sorr,,,,,!!!!!! but his word stopped abruptly. His eyes widen and his mouth opened agape. His knee buckled up and felt like jelly while his heart beating erratically. Kuroko had trouble breathing and he gasped for air. 

Kuroko ran as hard as he could like his life depended on it. “W-what happened just now?” His expressionless face turned into different shade of emotions. Confused, fear, anger, pain, uncertain of what truly happened. He could not believe his own eyes. 

“H-how come that Mikoto guy just passed through him!!!? I-Impossible,,,!!!. No normal human could do that!!” Kuroko stated frantically. Okay, he basically freaked out here.

His thought jumbled and he could not think straight. All the running makes he felt dizzy and suffocated. Kuroko dragged his legs which began losing its strength like it was made out of lead. He felt like he just run cross-country for about 5 kilometer long. Finally, lack of stamina caught up to him. Kuroko decreased his speed and came to a stop slowly. He tried to calm himself down and control his breathing. Not long after his body became more relax and at ease. 

Kuroko glanced at the surroundings. It seems like he was in the middle of a park near a 24 hours convenience store. He sat on the bench and started evaluating his current situation. 

“Don’t tell me…” Kuroko trailed off. His eyes widen. He still could not accept the plausible conclusion that he had come up with right now. After all, it did not make any sense to begin with. 

Kuroko decided to test out his hypothesis. He had hoped that his eyes played a trick on him and he was mistaken. As he walked to get the door to the convenience store, suddenly it was opened from the inside. A female office worker came out and went straight to his direction. Kuroko was ready to brace himself for the impact of the bump and steeled his heart. No word came from his mouth as he watched the woman just passed through him and never looked back as if he was not even there. 

Kuroko let out a small dejected chuckled. He was in denial. Yeah. He still did not get it and could not understand the whole scenario at all. Everything was a mess the moment he woke up on the school rooftop. He sighed and found himself a good spot to lay down for a while. He needed to take a break and cleared his mind off before he lost his sane. After what seemed like hours, he finally resigned and accepted his fate.

Suddenly, realization struck his mind. “Wait a minute. I already died, right? Then why am I a ghost? Don’t tell me this place is heaven because I definitely could not apprehend that” Kuroko narrowed his eyes and frown. Anyways, he was still in the real world and became a ghost on top of that. 

Kuroko wondered what had happened in his previous life which prevent him from passing away peacefully. They said people become a ghost if they still have unfinished business or regret after they died. 

“Am I one of those people? Or is it some sort of lingering feelings?” Kuroko muttered as he watched the morning dew fell off the tip of the green grasses. The sun will up soon and people began waking up from their sleep to start the new day.

At that moment, Kuroko had decided that he will regain back his memories of his previous life and then leave this world peacefully. That was his resolve!!

xXXx

I am a ghost with no memories of my life. My journey as a ghost begins here.


	3. That Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ Reminder: This story has slow build and I'm still new in this, So please bear with me^^  
> ~ Here you go peeps,,,,,enjoy!!

One fine evening at Teikou Middle School rooftop.

Kuroko Tetsuya laid his back on the floor, face facing the clear, blue sky above him. The weather was really nice so Kuroko decided to relax and doze off for a while. Both of his hand were on the back of his head, supporting its weight and settled for a more comfortable posture. Kuroko’s long eyelashes draped over his closed eyes. His facial expression was so calm and peaceful like a sleeping baby which had nothing to worry about. His bundle of teal locks swayed smoothly as if dancing to the gentle melody of the wind. Everything was perfect until someone suddenly barged in and intruded his peaceful evening. Kuroko groaned, feeling disturbed.

“Oi, kid!! Found ya!!” A man in his late twenties approached Kuroko. He grinned widely, seemingly proud of himself to be able to find Kuroko as Kuroko always manage to pull a disappearing act on him. He stood beside Kuroko, looming over him. 

“Tch. I’m not a kid!!” Kuroko glared at him, annoyed. Somehow, seeing him just make Kuroko’s blood boiled. 

“Tch??? Did you just clicked your tongue at me!?” His eyes widened at the small remark, totally ignored Kuroko’s last sentence. 

“Is that the only thing you heard?” Kuroko deadpanned. The man just laughed it off, amused. He enjoyed teasing Kuroko and laughed at Kuroko’s cringed, annoyed face as if he had nothing better to do. Well, he found it intriguing how someone like Kuroko he met not too long ago can show such honest expression. That means Kuroko trusted him and was comfortable enough around him to show that side of him. At first, Kuroko was a docile and polite kid. As time goes by, he became more mature and started to rebel like normal teenagers did. The man chuckled at the sudden thought. 

“Will you stop pestering me? I’m trying to enjoy my leisure time here,” Kuroko groaned. He closed his eyes to continue his so called nap time. 

“You are no fun at all !!” The man retorted, both hands on his hip like a mother scolding her rebellious son. Kuroko shrugged and ignored him. “Yeah…yeah. I know. I heard that a lot from you!!” 

Both said nothing after that and silence accompanied them for a while. Kuroko finally relaxed his body, feeling comfortable with the silent moment. He almost forgot about that man and wondered whether he was still there or left him already. He opened his right eye slightly to peek at said man. The man sat cross legged with one of his arm propped his chin and seems like he was in deep thought.

That man. His name is Murakami Koichi. Koichi-san was the first ghost Kuroko met in his new life as a ghost. Kuroko was alone that time when Koichi-san found him wandering aimlessly on the street. After all, Kuroko was still trying to adapt to his life and had no one to turn to. Fortunately Koichi-san was there for him. They became close acquaintances and over time, they began looking out for each other like a family. 

More importantly, Koichi-san seems to remember his previous life perfectly. Somehow, his memory is still intact even after he became a ghost. Same goes to the other fellow ghosts Kuroko met. They had no problem with their memories and could easily perform a detailed story telling about their human life. They could face their emotions, endured pain experiences and even enjoyed their happy memories of the past. Kuroko felt rather envy at that since he had nothing to begin with. 

However, everyone got their own reasons as to why they became a ghost. According to Koichi-san, he was dead because of an accident when he went home after working late at night. He was so busy working his exhausted mind and body in order to finish the project he worked on before the deadline and not noticed the night already set. Luck was not on his side on that day as he became a victim in a hit and run accident. Everything happened so suddenly. He remembered he literally flew in the air and dropped hard on the road with excruciating pain covered his whole body. By the time the ambulance came, his heart already stopped beating. 

Just so you know, this was not some kind of light novel where the protagonist died of unfortunate event and then reincarnated into another world. Screwed that. There was no gigantic warrior Silhouette Knight or even slime whom capable of being a Demon Lord. And yes, he did like reading that type of light novel and enjoyed playing MMORPG even at his age. However, this was reality for god’s sake. Everything he read was just a fiction and the author’s creative imagination so it was not likely to happen. If you died, so be it. Nothing could be done about that except accepted the fate written unless something did happened which probably be a miracle. But, all he knew he was dead, became a ghost literally and left behind his old, single mother alone. That’s all there was to it.

Before he lost consciousness, all sort of emotions flashed into his mind. How he was not a good son and had not performed his filial duty properly. How his mother barely smiled all those days and her lonely back facing him when he refused her invitation to eat dinner together. He should have realized sooner that all she ever wanted was eat dinner together, and spent family bonding time with him while watching television. Nothing much just doing the usual thing as a family. He deeply regretted not to spend more time with his mother back then. Instead, he worked hard to the bone to make more money. He was naïve to think that money would make his mother happy and had a better life someday.

Maybe because of his deep regret towards his mother was what makes him sort of unable to pass away peacefully. Who knows. Being a ghost, he himself could not fathom.

Kuroko woke up and sat cross-legged. “Did you went to see your mom?” Kuroko asked him, broke the comfortable silence surrounding them. Koichi-san snapped from his train of thought and faced Kuroko.

“Yeah.” He answered. “How is she?” Kuroko inquired. He knew Koichi-san went there every month. Sometimes he stayed at his mother’s house for days, watched over her silently like a protective guardian. 

“She’s fine. She looked more lively and no longer succumb to sadness. After all, it almost 3 years anyway since I died.” Koichi-san let out a relief sighed and smiled.

“That’s good then.” Kuroko replied, feeling happy for him. 

“I want to keep her safe and watch over her a while longer. After all, I cannot let those damn brats roam free and make a ruckus near our shop.” Koichi-san clenched his fist tightly and brought it in front of him. He looked so determined of his new resolution. 

“What happened?” Kuroko asked, curious. 

“Nothing much, just the usual thing anyway. Those damn brats - I mean those high school delinquents often come to our shop. They act so high and mighty just because they know a little or two on how to fight but that was not a reason to be so rude and disrespectful to people especially the elders.” Koichi-san make an annoyed face.

“There’s this one time I was so angry, I practically smacked their heads and jabbed their stomach. They looked confused and began accused one another. Being punched by unknown force in the gut was frightening enough not to mention I whispered sweet nothing but deathly warning to them.” He grinned evilly like an incarnation of Satan himself.

“And you know what, they run for their life like one being hunted by vengeful ghost – or I did hunted them though. Hahahaha,,,You should see their face, kid. Priceless is what I can tell you. Che, delinquent my ass!! Serves them right!!” He burst in laughter after ranting non-stop. He laughed and laughed, seemingly satisfied of his own accomplishment. 

Kuroko looked at him, dumbfounded. “Don’t tell me…you enjoyed scaring people off? Kuroko accused him with pointed looks. Koichi-san startled for a moment before he answered. 

“Am not.” Koichi-san averted his eyes from Kuroko and stared at his shoes as if it was the most interesting things to look at. 

“You are,” Kuroko stated after observing his reaction.

“Am not.” Koichi-san retorted back. He tried to keep his poker face on so that Kuroko won’t catch anything amiss as if he speak only the truth. 

Kuroko crossed his hands at his chest and grinned. “Heehhh?? Is that so?” Kuroko said playfully. “Then, why don’t you say it in my face?” Kuroko challenged him. He knew Koichi-san as long as he remembered and Kuroko could detect if Koichi-san lied to him from his subconscious gesture. Koichi-san had a habit to avert his eyes from him and desperately defended himself whenever Kuroko pressed harder. That man, he was so easy to read like an open book was what Kuroko thought. 

Koichi-san scowled and turned to face Kuroko. He resigned, as he knew better not to argue with Kuroko. “Fine.” Koichi-san finally admitted. Kuroko gave out a victory smirk, feeling superior. 

“It can’t be helped okay! Their reactions are too funny and amusing. Some of them even pissed their pants and chanting weird spells nonstop.” He giggled, trying hard to contain his laughter but it broke soon after. One of his hands on the stomach while the other wipe his tears that started to pool at the corner of his eyes. 

Kuroko face palmed at Koichi-san’s childish act. “What are you? A kid?” Kuroko let out a heavy sighed. “Seriously, this man is hopeless.” Kuroko noted mentally. 

“Shut up!!. You are not one to talk. Mine is nothing compared to yours.” Koichi-san claimed. He smirked sheepishly. 

“Eh??” Kuroko looked confused for a second. He never did something like that as far as he remembered. “What do you mean, Koichi-san?” Kuroko asked him. 

Kuroko was not one to fool around and believe it or not he did not make any contact with humans after he became a ghost or more exact after that incident where he found out he was a ghost. So, scaring people off was out of question. 

“Just what did I do!!??” Kuroko screamed internally.


	4. THE RUMORED GHOST

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Finally an update,,yay!! I really took my time and barely managed to finish this chapter. I feel like crying*sobsobs*  
> \- I was so busy with work, still in my training and probation for 6 months before I will confirm my position as Technical n Quality Officer. I don't have much time to write the story and sometime I don't even feel like it..huhu  
> But I want to keep progressing the story so I will try my best to write one step at a time. Even a paragraph will do.  
> \- My story will have lots of OCs since it was kuroko's journey in search of his memories and Akashi will make his appearance in chapter 6 or so. Maybe. I had the idea in mind but who knows what will happen. Or should I write a flashback of Teikou days for a change of pace?  
> \- Btw, here you go peeps,,enjoy!! (*/^_^)/

Teikou Middle School

It was almost time for summer break which means the examination week was around the corner. The hard and high obstacles before the long awaited summer vacation. Examination surely the most dreaded things in student’s life and of course Teikou’s students were no exception. The word “examination” itself brought endless fear upon them. Everyone cannot helped but whined when examination topic was mentioned. Some even screamed frantically while clutching hard to their head, seemingly forgotten about it completely. They started to ponder what the hell they were doing the whole time instead of studying and regretted it later for taking it so lightly. Nothing could be done about that as it was entirely their fault and they had to make up for it by putting extra effort or else failure will await them at the end. 

The pressure was so intense that they didn’t dare to fool around and do nothing but study earnestly. All of the school club ceased their usual activities to give their undivided attention to study until examination was over. As a student, studying was the first priority above all other things and while boring the name of ‘Teikou’, they had the obligation to reach the people’s expectation out of them. Moreover, they would not want their report card to be tainted with failure and subsequently affect their chance to go to a better high school. 

Somehow, the usually noisy and hectic day was replaced with quiet and tense atmosphere. They even had discussions and self-study during lunch break. Not that it was a bad thing but they should take it slowly at their own pace and instead enjoy lunch together while bonding with each other. Sure, study was important but shutting people around only results in more stressful condition. However, it was more intriguing to see the aftermath of examination itself. The moment examination was over, their mood changing rapidly. Their smiles and eyes sparkling which was as bright as a sun enveloped with colorful rainbows after rain shower in the afternoon. It was so full of energy and life. It was a funny thing how examination affect their life. 

 

xXXXXx

 

Teikou Middle School Library.

As usual, the library was full with students. Most of the students busied themselves with extra studies, group discussion and last minute cramming. Every minute was so precious that they just sit there quietly, doing the revision even after the school hour was over. They did their best in studying to pass the exam or else they had to attend the supplementary class which held on the weekend or even worse got dragged to the summer break. If they ever failed, just be prepared to kiss their summer vacation goodbye. Nothing was more torturous than woke up early in the morning to go to school even when there was no school while others happily lazing in their futon, not bother to wake up until who knows when. Not being able go to the beach, swimming in public pool or even doing other fun things during vacation was a nightmare they did not want to happen, ever. Just thinking about it make them grimaced in pain. 

Since the examination was around the corner, the library was opened until 10 pm every day from Monday to Friday. The school had given permission to extend the time for the students to study there only during the examination week. After that, it would operate back like the usual time. That decision of course well supported by the students and they were so grateful of it because they could use the time wisely and could study there peacefully without being disturbed by the noise or anything else. It definitely more productive to study there rather than at home because there was so much things at home that would distract their poor heart to neglect study. Television, internet not to mention the soft and comfy bed. It was so tempting to lie down there comfortably and close their eyes. Forget taking a nap, they would surely fall asleep as soon as their head rested on the pillow. 

So, library mostly the better options for those who wanted to study peacefully considering its quiet atmosphere. They just had to endure it for a bit more until the exam was over. It was nothing compared to what comes next which was the anticipated summer vacation. It was almost 7.00 in the evening and a few of the students began packing their things and started to go home. The library gradually became quieter and serene as night begun to settle in. Most of them still glued to their seats and the heavy downpours of rain outside added to it even more. They would just wait for it to stop then and in the meantime immersed themselves in their study. 

At the corner of the library, two female students were so focus on their study, not even taking a glance at their surroundings. They both wore the standard Teikou Middle School uniform for female students which were the cream color cardigan, the blue shirt underneath it, and dark blue pleated skirt. One of them had a long raven hair, almost reached her waist while the other had her brown hair tied in high ponytail. The silence atmosphere broke when one of them spoke her minds. 

“Miyuki, are you going home already?” a raven hair girl asked as she saw her friend, Fuwa Miyuki closed her textbook and shoved it in her school bag hastily. 

“Emm. It’s getting late. I don’t want to miss the train” Miyuki said while glancing occasionally at her wristwatch. 

The raven hair girl, Shinomiya Koharu frowned a bit after she took a look at her surroundings and then faced the girl in front of her. 

“It’s still raining outside. Why don’t you stay for a while longer? Besides, our home is in the same direction anyway. We can just go home together like always” Koharu stated while directing her gaze deep into Miyuki’s eyes. 

She knitted her eyebrows. It was weird for Miyuki to forget about that. They practically went home together like every day for as long as she could remember. After all, they were in the same Karate club, so it was not a surprise if they ended up going back together anyway after the club practice was over. 

“Err- Ehehe…” Miyuki laughed awkwardly while scratching her blushing cheek. She immediately avoided her eyes from Koharu’s, afraid she would be found out if she stared too long at those calculative eyes of her best friend. 

“It would be bad if you catch a cold during the examination” Koharu added, further intensified her reason for Miyuki to stay until the rain stopped. It was now summer season however rain could occur sometimes and today was one of that rare day. 

Miyuki almost groaned at that, already imagining the worst she would face if she tried to force her way in the rain. It would be a disaster if she caught a summer cold. That would be totally lame though. Definitely.

Koharu looked at her best friend questioningly and raised her eyebrow, silently asking her to explain herself for her strange behaviour.

Miyuki smiled sheepishly. “Well, you see…It’s night already…” She trailed of, glanced at Koharu’s direction, still contemplated whether she should tell her the truth or not. 

“…And?” 

Koharu arched her eyebrow for a bit. She waited patiently for Miyuki to continue her story. It seemed like she would not stopped bugging her until she got the truth spoken out loud and no matter how long it takes, she was willing to wait for it. More so if Miyuki was concerned. Koharu was known amongs the Karate club members as the most patient and coolheaded person. She would observed her opponent silently and strike at them when they let their guard down. She may look unfriendly and hard to approach because of her serious face, but she was all soft in the inside. 

Miyuki gave up, knowing her best friend better than anyone else. She was one hell of a curious fellow. After all, she wanted to be a journalist in the future so she would always had her way in getting people to talk. Miyuki wondered how. 

Miyuki sighed. Her face turned bright red, because of what she was going to tell Koharu would be too embarrassing and too childish, even to her. 

“You know it is night and I am afraid of ghost!” Miyuki finally dropped the bomb. She anticipated a feat of laugh or teasing from her but what happened was too surreal. She practically could see her friend stared at her face blankly with gaping mouth before realization clicked in her mind.

“Where did that come from?” Koharu asked curiously. It was too sudden and she did not expected it to be the case.

Koharu did not made fun of her after the sudden revelation about her weaknesses to ghosts but she looked rather confused at that. Miyuki finally relaxed after seeing her reaction. It was not as she expected to happen but it was better than having her laughed like crazy.

“Haven’t you heard?” She started. 

“Of what?” Koharu asked impatiently. Her eyes glinted intensely. Miyuki could not help but shook her head at her friend’s quirk. Curiosity got the better of her. Again.

She looked around and then gulped. “The rumours about our library. It has been going around for a while now. Apparently our library is haunted!!” She said with a horror in her eyes. 

“Hehh? That’s interesting! This is the first time I heard about it” She said amusingly. 

Her amused reaction only bring a pout on Miyuki’s face. “Mou Haru-chan. Seriously, this is not a joke” She wailed dramatically. She eagerly tried to convince Koharu to believe her story. It was not a baseless rumour nor a made up story to spice up things, but it was the truth told by the victim herself. 

“I heard it from my classmate. She said she was in the library at that time because she happened to be on duty that day. It was late in the evening and the library was already empty by that time. She was supposed to close the library then and returned the key to the teacher’s room. However, she heard someone was flipping through the pages of a book and chuckling slightly. She was confused because she was so sure there was no one else left in the library except her. So she decided to look around one more time to warn the student about the closing time but found no one in there. She could feel her heart beating loudly in her chest and her hand was sweaty. Then, she heard the sound again. This time it was louder. She steeled her heart and moved towards the sound. She was so relieved when she found out that it was just the sound of the curtain flapped against the wall, hard. Turned out that she forgot to close the window and it was quite windy that day” Miyuki stopped to take a breath and calmed her nerves down.

“Okayyy…” Koharu pronounced it a bit longer, still trying to digest the story. “So what is the problem? It was not even a ghost” She pointed out the fault of the rumours.

“Ah, no. I haven’t finished yet” She continued with her story. This time Koharu could see Miyuki’s face turned white as a sheet. 

“She closed the window and checked the others as well. After she was satisfied, she headed back to the counter to get her things. And then she froze in her place. There it was. The sounds echoed again in the empty library. She make sure all the windows were closed so why she could hear it again? It was so close to her too. She turned around and see a book was opened widely on the table and the page flipped slowly as if someone was reading it. Say what, it was not even caused by the wind. More importantly, she did put all the books on the shelves and cleared the tables. She was pretty sure there was nothing on the table before so who took it out from the shelf? She was absolutely did not do it. Suddenly, her face paled and she practically rushed out without closing the library. She was too scared she felt she had lost her voice to scream! It was a ghost and it was real! Isn’t that scary?! Her voice rose a notch, almost screaming in horror at that last few sentences.

Koharu stared at her dumbfounded. Sure it was a bit scary (not enough to scare her anyway because ghost stories were her favorite) but her frightened face was so epic she could not hold her laugh and it burst out not long after that. Her sudden laughter reverberated loudly in the quiet library, making the other students peered curiously at their direction. 

“Miyuki, I don’t know you have that side of you. Hey, who thought a number one Karate champion in the Kanto Tournament would be afraid of ghosts but so fierce when facing her opponent? Why don’t you just kick it’s ass with your Karate then?” She laughed unceremoniously, earning a warning glared from the head librarian and the other students as well. She closed her mouth with one hand while the other clutched tightly on her stomach. 

Okay. Miyuki was wrong there. Koharu was a teaser and she would always be. Miyuki had expected that to happen at some point. It was so like Koharu to made fun of her but in a good way anyway. Not that she was mad or anything. It was better to let her know beforehand although she would suffered from embarrassment in the future because of that. They were really closed and comfortable with each other just like real siblings. They always joked around and teased each other a lot, sometimes bickered about mundane things like which one was better, tonkotsu ramen or miso ramen. Others would find it weird but that was their way of having fun and deepen their friendship. 

“Mou, listen to the story at least!” Miyuki groaned, frustrated. “That’s because they are people. It didn’t work like that on ghosts!” She added, leaning weakly against her chair.

She sighed for the umpteenth time for that day. “Mikoto nii-san did not helped either. He even supplied me with another ghost story. Damn that brother of mine!!” She cursed her bad luck being surrounded by people who love whatever related to ghosts. Her brother, Fuwa Mikoto was the captain of the basketball club. He always teased her for clinging to him so tight whenever there was a blackout or when they were at haunted house. She may look strong and all being in the Karate club but she was not that fond of something she could not handle well like ghosts or bugs. Keep the last one a secret for the time being. 

“Oho, Fuwa-senpai did? What is it this time?” Koharu smiled deviously. She sure enjoyed herself to the fullest. Miyuki could not help but cringed at that. 

“Apparently he heard it from Haruki-kun himself so it definitely not a fake story. Haruki-kun would not made it up just for fun because he is not that kind of person. He is handsome, cool and his basketball is amazing!! Miyuki said excitedly. Koharu practically could hear she went “Kyaa” all the way like some die-hard fans going crazy over an idol group. Her hands clasped together in front of her chest while she wore a smiling face dreamily. Her cheeks were bright red and her eyes was gleaming brightly which made Koharu felt she was almost blinded by it for a moment. 

Koharu face-palmed. Miyuki finally lost herself in her never ending crush on her brother’s best friend. “Yeah..yeah.. Got it. He is your crush all right” She said, deadpanned. She used to hear Miyuki rambling on and on about her crush all the time that she practically could remember everything about the said person more than she ever remembered what they had learnt in Japanese History class. His favourite food? Dream job? Just named it. She had it all covered. Too bad her mind did not work the same way for that lesson much to her dismay. 

Miyuki grinned sheepishly. She brought her right hand in front of her face apologetically while winking one of her eyes. Definitely not that sorry for her previous outburst. Well, she could not control her maiden heart when it came to his brother’s best friend. Her mood would brighten suddenly when said person was mentioned and she would go all soft like a puddle of goo. Miyuki had known Haruki-kun since they were little and had crush on him ever since he saved her from her idiot brother’s bug prank. She was scared to death and he was there, calming her down with his gentle voice. Truthfully, it was embarrassing to be seen at her weakest but it was one of her fond childhood memories. 

“Well, it happened after their club practice like 2 months ago or so. Mikoto nii-san, Haruki-kun and his teammate were practising in the 1st gym until late in the evening. After clean-up and all, my brother went ahead to hand the gym key to the teacher’s office and would meet up with both of them at the school gate. But they took their time and then he noticed their face were as white as sheet. Haruki-kun said they heard someone calling out to them not long after my brother parted ways but there was no one out there except him and his teammate. Then, they heard the sound of dried leaves cracked like someone stepped on it. Haruki-kun was sure it was a ghost or spirit because he said he could feel cold hand rested on his shoulder for a moment considering there was no one and he could not see anyone at all. They were so scared that they practically run for their life, not bothered looking back and gave a thought about it further” Miyuki ended her story with a heavy sighed. 

Koharu nodded her head knowingly. She looked rather happy since she got plenty of materials for her ghost story collections today. However, she suddenly scrunched her face as if she was thinking hard. Then, she snapped her fingers, seemingly remembered something. 

“Hey, speaking of the basketball gym, wasn’t there a rumour about the ghost in the 3rd gym a few years back? It was around the time when the Kiseki no Sedai were in their first year. I still remembered my sister told me about that and it was so famous back then too” Koharu claimed. 

“R-really?” Miyuki stuttered. She gulped her saliva slowly, eyes widen in horror. To think that ghost story in their school existed before this was quite surprising and the 3rd gym was not that far from her class too. So, their school really was hunted. The new ghost may be the same one as before. What if the ghost was real and it decided to strike again after staying silent for some time now? What will she do if she ever encounter it? Her body was trembling and cold sweat glistening on her forehead. 

“Yeah. But it died down not long after so it mostly just a rumour” She continued while glancing on the wristwatch. It was almost 9 pm and the rain had stopped pouring. They should head back home soon. It was a long day today. All she wanted to do was rest in her comfy bed after working her minds like crazy for hours. She looked upwards and saw Miyuki was silent in her seat. 

“Hey, don’t worry too much. From your story, it did not appeared as a vengeful ghost so it won’t hunt people down. Everyone will forget about it after some time has pass. So no need to tense up over it. Let’s just focus on the examination right now and then enjoy the summer vacation to our heart content” Koharu reassured, giving her friendly smile to the scared looking Miyuki. 

“Yeah, you’re right. Maybe I took it the hard way and it makes me feel all tense. Now I feel better after I spilled out everything” She smiled at her, after getting back her composure.

“Figured” Koharu said knowingly. “Let’s go home. I think I want to go to bed early today” Koharu exclaimed. It was rather a tiring day and they was really exhausted in mind and body. Miyuki nodded eagerly, gladly complied by the suggestion and they walked out of the library together after making sure all of their belongings were taken along with them. 

 

xXXXXx

 

Turned out that Kuroko was the real culprit for all those events. He may not noticed it but nothing was more terrifying than doing it without intention of scaring people instead of facing them head on like what Koichi-san did to those brats. Scary right? He was not even realized he did scared people off unconsciously not to mention people were so terrified of it. When he was a human, he did not intent to make people jumped in surprise when he spoke out of the blue while the truth was he had been there all the time. They could not see him because of his low presence, so he ended up scaring them anyway without failed. Even if he was now a ghost, Kuroko would always be Kuroko.


	5. A MOMENT OF DISTRACTION

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Teikou arc no one asked for!! Actually I wanted to make this another separate story but then I thought why not make it as Kuroko's precious memories. So, I figured I will add some flashback of Teikou days here and there in the main plot to make it more interesting. I hope so. huhu  
> Here you go~~~

-PAST-

Teikou Basketball Gymnasium

Like usual, the basketball club members were having their evening training practice after school. The sound of the shoes screeching against the gym floor and the balls bouncing here and there could be heard from afar. Grunted and painful groaned occasionally followed, filling the entire gymnasium. The training was as tough as ever. They run few lapses more than usual, doing suicides back and forth and also sprints. They make sure to do legworks stretches to warm up the legs because the legs were an important asset to a basketball player. They could be prone to leg injuries due to the frequent use during running and jumping so stretches was a must since the last thing they would want was to sit out of a game because of an injury. As a player, the push ups, pull ups and dips were a must to build the triceps and wrist strength for jump shot which was important to increase the accuracy of shooting. 

Basically, their training involved a full body workout. It was hard for the past few days because the training was really intense and took quite a huge toll on their body. The aftermath was proven when they practically sleep like a log after they went home, completely exhausted their mind and body. Actually, that was nothing new to them. It was to be expected since they got a practice match with Towa Middle School next Tuesday. The training tend to become quite vigorous compared to usual if they got a practice match with other school or the basketball tournament was around the corner. They had to make sure they were in a tip top condition when facing the other school, so the conditioning program was done to improve their speed, agility, strength and explosive power.

After what seems like eternity, they practically sprawled on the gym floor, all spent and exhausted from running around nonstop. None of them had any energy left to even lift their fingers as their muscles were sore from the intense full body workout. Their chest heaved hard, catching their breath eagerly like fish out of water, desperately gasping for air.

“Listen everyone. You got ten minutes break. After that we will have a mini game so recover your strength and energy properly” Akashi gave out an order. 

Akashi did not take part in the workout today as the coach and Nijimura-senpai were absent to attend to some matters regarding their next practice match. As a vice captain, he had to take over and make sure the members’ training progressed smoothly. His eyes went back to the clipboard on his hands, seemingly contemplated on the team member selection. 

All of them released a sigh that they did not even noticed they hold in when they heard Akashi’s voice earlier. His voice was too intimidating for his own good, more so his regal and mighty presence. They thought Akashi would ordered them to continue the training but he did otherwise so they were grateful to him for being thoughtful. Remembering the training they just did a while ago makes them want to puke. So, they gladly complied by the order. 

“Kurokocchi don’t die!!” Kise wailed seeing Kuroko laid down flat on his stomach, not moving a muscle. It seemed that the training was too taxing to Kuroko’s frail body.

“Aka-chin, I’m hungry. Can I eat my snacks now?” Murasakibara asked lazily. All the workouts makes his stomach rumbling. 

“You can’t. Wait till the practice is over.” Akashi stated, earning a pouting face from Murasakibara. 

All of them used the break time given to the fullest in order to recover their strength and energy back. Momoi was helping out by giving them the energy drinks and towels to clean themselves. Some of them even dozed off for a while as soon as they closed their eyes and rested their body on the hard floor of the gym, too tired to mind it anyway.

“Aominecchi, get your smelly feet out of my face. It’s disgusting.” Kise said while scrunching his face. They laid down side by side but upside down from each other.

“Bastard, what did you say!?” Aomine retorted angrily. He smacked Kise’s head and glared at him angrily. 

“Ow, that hurts!! Aominecchi, you ganguro!!” Kise broke in tears and pounced on Kuroko, seeking comfort from the teal head. 

They started their usual bickering over small thing and unfortunately Kuroko got caught in the middle of the feat. Aomine tried to release Kuroko from Kise’s crushing hug while the latter pushed Aomine’s stupid face out of his sight with one hand and the other hold Kuroko’s shoulder tightly. They ended up in a tug of war which both of them held one of Kuroko’s hands where the said person in the middle was too weak to even retaliate. Kise’s whining sound and Aomine’s cursing remark resounded the entire gymnasium. Kuroko seemed really out of it judging from his blank face which was worse than usual thanks to the vigorous training they had earlier. After all, Kuroko had low stamina and endurance level so that much could be expected. 

“Hmph. How stupid. Such immature actions was unbecoming.” Midorima said while pushing his spectacles up his nose bridge. He was really annoyed to see such childish bickering between Kise and Aomine which somehow they managed to do it every single day without failed. He wondered just how those idiots pair minds working. 

“What do you mean, Midorimacchi?” Kise glared at Midorima while his hand still holding Kurokos’ tightly like his life depended on it. “Aominecchi hit me first so I’m the victim here.” He sobbed like a poor puppy kicked out of home on rainy days. 

Midorima groaned and massaged his temple. “Don’t they got tired of it already? Who in their right mind would like to witness such actions every day. I repeat every day for God’s sake! It was damn annoying!!” Midorima scorned mentally. Looks like he was about to lose his sanity any moment. Well, he did expected Aomine and Kise were at it again today but what he did not expect was Kuroko getting caught in the mess much less being the object of their endless bickering. 

Talking about Kuroko, his eyes immediately fell onto the said teen in the middle of the two idiots. Kuroko looked like he was lost in his own world but Midorima was glad Kuroko was still alive and barely hold onto his life thread. However, he was more worried of what comes next. Not that he would say it out loud anyway. Those idiots just never learned. Thank God Akashi was in the club’s locker room, grabbing the new training program he forgot to bring earlier. He had to stop them before Akashi decided to interfere. Who knew what Akashi will do if he saw the grave situation which he doubt would not happened without him knowing because the ruckus was so loud it could be heard clearly even from outside of the gym. 

“Stop it already, idiots! Akashi will get mad if both of you didn’t stop right now. Not that I care if you got punished by him, just that both of you disturbed the other members break time with those unsightly behaviour of yours.” Midorima reprimanded them while fixing his glasses. 

Of course his words brought no effect to those muscle head simpleton. Aside from Akashi, somehow only Kuroko could stopped both of them but sadly enough he was out of option in this current situation. They continued bickering without realizing someone was holding his anger and stared intensely at the pairs, boring hole in their head. The other members shuddered by the sudden cold they felt pricking on their skin, eyes blown wide when they noticed Akashi was there watching-or more like glaring dagger towards the pair. Their pale faces could not betray the horror they felt in the moment and instantly moved away from the vicinity to save their life. 

If looks could kill, they were very sure Aomine and Kise were dead by now. The other members totally freaked out as Akashi walked slowly towards the oblivious pair. Their death sentences was inevitable and nothing could stop Akashi from delivering the death blow right now and then. Even Midorima was stiffen in his place, sweating bullets and did not dare to intervene. After all, he did warned Aomine and Kise but the idiots being the idiots they were foolishly invoked the devil- Akashi’s anger and inflicted his wrath upon themselves. The rest of the members watched the current situation unfolded with concern and pity in their eyes. They mentally offered condolences to Aomine and Kise, praying for both poor souls to die in a peaceful death. 

“Aomine. Kise. Release Kuroko at once!” Akashi said with commanding tone while walking towards them in steady stride but his figure screamed authority and power. “Now!” He raised his voice a bit when he saw Aomine and Kise still hold onto Kuroko like an octopus while they froze in their spot, staring at him dumfoundedly. Both Aomine and Kise flinched instantly when they heard the icy voice near them. Their faces paled and eyes widen in horror.

“If you have that much energy, why don’t both of you go run some more lapse around the court?” Akashi gave them a cold menacing glare while crossing both of his hands on his chest which looked intimidating than not.

Both Kise and Aomine shuddered from the sudden chill that run down their spine. They pulled away from Kuroko immediately and scurried over, fear for their life. They did not dare to defy Akashi as they knew better not to argue with him and what he was capable of doing if they disobey his order. More importantly, they still want their head attached perfectly to their body so no thank you. 

Akashi took their action as an obedience and surrendering to his absolute order. He deemed he did not need to pry about it further and dismissed the pair, earning surprised gasped from the other members. They expected Akashi to snap or punished Aomine and Kise to death and was prepared for the worst but what was happening right now was beyond their calculation. Well, it was not a bad thing anyway so they were glad that they somehow managed to avoid a bloodshed from occurring. Plus, they still needed Aomine and Kise in the upcoming practice match so they had to ensure both of them were safe and perfectly in one piece. 

Akashi moved towards Kuroko and inspected his condition. Kuroko was still in dazed looking back to his expressionless face and empty eyes it was as if his soul had temporarily left his body. Akashi hold out his hand and wrapped Kuroko’s wrist in his. Kuroko felt like his brain had ceased to work and he could not apprehend the situation correctly. So he just let Akashi did what he intended and followed him mindlessly as Akashi guided him to the bench. Akashi seated Kuroko on the bench gently, hands on his shoulder while muttered something to him like ‘pale face’ or ‘rest’ in which he only nodded, not really sure what to do in that moment. Akashi nodded back in acknowledgement, seemingly satisfied with Kuroko’s answer and then move away from him to do his job. 

It took quite some time to relieve the tense atmosphere back to normal. Aomine and Kise were still wary of Akashi and stayed on guard in case he would lashed out or something. They did not know what Akashi was thinking and could not predict his actions because predicting the unpredictable would only exhausted their mind further more so and not to mention their already tired body thanks to the drills earlier. Not that they were thinking in the first place anyway. Well, it was Akashi they were talking about for God’s sake. Akashi being Akashi, unpredictable was nothing new about him, apparently. Who knows what he would do if they ever got caught in his bad side. That boy was as sly as a fox, or maybe an incarnation of devil even.

The other members watched the scene between Akashi and Kuroko attentively. Akashi was always gentle and protective when Kuroko was concerned. Sometimes, his harden face would soften when they talked or when Kuroko was around him. He himself may not realized it as it was done unconsciously but they knew Akashi had soft spot for Kuroko. Same goes to the other Generation of Miracles members but all the more so with Kuroko. 

Not that Akashi never smile, or being kind to them or anything before. Just that he was too hard on himself lately. He got loads of works and responsibility to hold as he was the school Student Council President and the vice-captain of the basketball club. People would say he was a lucky bastard to be so freaking smart and born in a rich family. Damn, he was what they called a perfect boyfriend material according to his admirers especially the girls. Being the only heir to the famous Akashi Corporation, he was expected to excel in everything he did as a preparation when the time comes to take over the company. As they knew, nothing Akashi was not capable of and everything was done perfectly. Sometimes, they wondered how the hell he managed to do it and when the hell did he even rest as they themselves barely had enough energy left after the club activities. Suddenly they felt like being an Akashi was not that easy.

Akashi clapped his hands hard to gain the attention of the members towards him as soon as the break was over. As if on cue, they gathered around Akashi to listen to him for the short briefing regarding the match. Akashi calmly explain the rules and called out the names of the players chosen for the match. The team was split accordingly and they played for full quarter. Kuroko would be subbed in in the second quarter so he got more time to recover his strength from the training and of course from the unfortunate scene earlier. 

Aomine, Murasakibara and the other first string members were together in a team while Midorima and Kise were on the opposite team. Kuroko would substitute the player in Kise’s team so he would be separated from Aomine, his light. The match was intense with Aomine’s team had an upper hand and leading the game with the score 24-18 at the moment. It was a perfect combination as Aomine acted on offense and Murasakibara took care of the defense skilfully. Kise’s team was not bad either. They managed to score against Murasakibara and gained point after point with Midorima’s three pointer and Kise’s drive. Well, it was only the first quarter anyway. They still had time to turn the table to their favour.

Kuroko observed the player in the court diligently. He developed a habit of observing the people and their behaviours due to his ability to use misdirection. He may not be as keen and perceptive as Akashi or had animal instinct to move instantly like Aomine but it was pretty useful to him in the games especially against troublesome enemy. Kuroko would take advantage of the slight change of behaviour or weird habit they got and put it to good use. He often exchange pointers with Akashi about his observation not to mention Akashi did asked him to sharpen his senses as it may become his strength someday. Because of that, he was pretty good at reading people’s emotion and body language which he took pride in himself! 

Speaking of Akashi, Kuroko looked around trying to find the familiar redhead. His gaze fell onto Akashi on the side line who was looking absentmindedly towards the court and occasionally gripped the clipboard in his hand. Sometimes he would knit his eyebrows and frowned. Kuroko narrowed his eyes questioningly. Well, that was weird. As far as he knew, Akashi was a calm and collected person. He never showed any distress openly or lose his cool except when Aomine or Kise was involved. Akashi often kept his emotions in check but what Kuroko saw right now was contradicting to what he knew. Kuroko could tell something was bothering Akashi immensely that he could not put it into words and Akashi looked somewhat distracted too. Sometimes he flinched when he heard the weasel sound and hurriedly jotted down the score. Akashi seemingly lost in his own world, not realizing Kuroko was watching his odd behaviour attentively.

However, his focus towards Akashi was interrupted when he heard someone called his name. 

“…..tsu-kun!!”

“…..Tetsu-kun! 

Kuroko snapped from his reverie. He turned towards the voice and found Momoi was looking at him with concerned eyes.

“Are you okay?” She asked. Her voice laced with worry. 

Kuroko was pondering what did she mean by that and then realized. “Ahh, Sorry! I’m okay”. Kuroko replied shortly. 

“Do you need more rest? I can ask Akashi-kun to let you rest a bit more,” Momoi inquired, still not convinced. Her eyes stared straight into Kurokos’, trying to figure out whether he was lying or not. 

Kuroko shook his head. “No need. I rested enough already. Anyway, thank you for asking Momoi-san.” Kuroko assured the worried looking Momoi. He smiled a little to convince her and ease her heart.

Momoi release a glad sigh and then nodded, satisfied with Kuroko’s answer. Kuroko went back to observe Akashi after he deemed the conversation was over. Momoi noticed Kuroko being quite for a while and eyed him from the corner of her eyes. Apparently, Kuroko’s attention was not on the court but somewhere else. She followed Kuroko’s gaze and found out he was staring at Akashi intensely. Momoi furrowed her eyebrows and coughed a little to gain Kuroko’s attention.

“Is something wrong with Akashi-kun? You stared at him for a while now” Momoi stated, making Kuroko flinched at the sudden inquiry. She then realized Kuroko did stared at Akashi before too. Now she was curious. 

Kuroko flustered as he was caught staring intensely at the redhead like a deer caught at the headlights. His cheeks tinted pink, embarrassed. “…Nothing.” He said, while shaking his head left and right. Kuroko was contemplating whether to consult Momoi or not regarding Akashi’s strange behaviour. He decided to try asking Momoi anyway. Who knows she might knew the reason to that. After all, she was an expert in gathering information. 

“Momoi-san” Kuroko started. “Don’t you think Akashi-kun acts a bit weird today? He looks kind of distracted like something is bothering him. Do you perhaps know something about this?” 

Momoi looked flabbergasted. ”Eh? He did!? I did not realized it at all!” She exclaimed, eyes widen, a little shocked to hear that news. Kuroko nodded his head as a confirmation to Momoi’s question. Her face contorted, trying to digest the news she just heard from Kuroko. She focused her attention to Akashi and watched him more carefully this time. Then, something clicked in her mind.

“Ahh. Come to think of it, his face did look quite pale this morning.” Momoi remembered seeing Akashi in the teacher’s room when she submitted the class’s assignments to the Math’s teacher before. She was on class duty today so it was a coincidence to find him there at that time. 

Momoi put a hand on her chin, thinking hard. “Maybe he was a little tired. You know, the examination was around the corner and his works in the student council also added to it, probably.” Momoi concluded, after coming out with possible reasons.

“….Yeah. Maybe you’re right. He was the president after all” Kuroko added. 

He stole another glance towards Akashi’s direction and nodded his head, as if to convince himself everything would be okay. Akashi would be back as his usual self. He knew it. He reassured himself to not thinking too hard about the matter and focus on the game instead. 

Their conversation was cut off when it was Kuroko’s turn to be subbed in in the match. Kuroko tied his shoelaces tightly and tugged his black wristband before he walked into the court. His face was deadpanned as ever but everyone could see his eyes sparkling brightly as he stepped into the court even though he tried to tone it down a notch. He was itching to play after he had to sit out in the first quarter after all.

As expected, Kuroko’s presence in the game drastically changed the atmosphere on the court. They already got used to the feeling of without Kuroko on the court. So, when Kuroko suddenly appeared thanks to his low presence and his misdirection, he managed to disrupt the momentum of Aomine’s team and led them to confusion instead. Kuroko took advantage of the moment to pass the ball to Kise and Midorima, gaining point after point easily. Sometimes he would steal the ball when the receiver of the Aomine’s team was caught off guard by changing the trajectory of the ball towards his own team. They moved perfectly in sync with Kuroko and managed to catch the ball with ease even when Kuroko use his signature Ignite Pass. 

Thanks to him, Kise’s team took control of the game and leading it with the 10 point gap. It was a matter of time before Kuroko’s misdirection ran out. So, he went all out in order to widen the gap or Aomine’s team would caught up to them soon when they got used to his low presence. Kuroko increased his speed and accuracy of his passing so that it would be caught easily by his teammates. He decided to use Ignite Pass Kai which was more of a high level than the normal Ignite Pass. However, that skill was too great of a deal, only Aomine and sometimes the Miracles could catch it singlehandedly but of course not without sting and burning hands afterwards. Kuroko did not dare using it so frequently, worried it would hurt his teammates in the process. Like old saying, misfortune could happen anytime and anywhere. Of all times to use it, Kuroko did not expected it to turn this badly. They were just playing happily like usual and having fun at some point and then something this horrible happened! Or more like the worst in history of Teiko basketball club!

 

Akashiii/ Akashi-kunnn/ Akashicchiii/ Aka-chin!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	6. AKASHI'S UNLUCKY DAY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -End of flashback chapter~~~yayy. There will be continuation for this but I will save that for later cause there will be Akakuro moments,,teehee^^ I will reveal it when the time is right.  
> -Fyi, the flashback served as his memories. There will be many flashback so that you know what happened in Kuroko's past life. It may be from Akashi' reminiscence or GOM pov or whatever. I haven't decide yet. So ghost Kuroko won't remember it now but he will someday.  
> -I won't be updating for a while so I hope this chapter will satisfy you in the meantime.  
> Enjoy^^

Akashiii/ Akashi-kunnn/ Akashicchiii/ Aka-chinnnn!!!!

 

Everyone screamed Akashi’s name in panic. The moment Akashi lifted his head upwards, the ball slammed directly against his head and he was knocked down to the floor, unconscious. Everyone froze in their spot, totally stunned and seemingly confused of the situation unfolded in front of their eyes. They expected Akashi to dodge the ball or catch it singlehandedly like always even if he was caught off guard.

Well, it was Akashi they were talking about here, the one who had incredible speed and agility just like Aomine. So, what happened right now was something out of ordinary and utterly impossible. As soon as everything registered in their mind, their eyes widen ridiculously, almost fell out of their socket while their mouth gaping unceremoniously. They could not help themselves then but screaming in horror at the fact lied brutally in front of their eyes. There goes the limped body of Akashi Seijuurou on the floor with the suspected murder weapon rolling guiltily next to him!! 

With the absence of the coach and Nijimura-senpai that day, the situation turned to the worst way possible and totally out of control. It was more like they were hit by the zombie apocalypse and everyone practically panicking, desperately tried to save their life from being devoured alive. In other words, everyone just went crazy and chaos ensured in the entire gymnasium making it more stressful than not. 

Really, it was a nightmare everyone did not asked for. It was amusing how Akashi, not only in his wake but also in his unconscious state managed to instill fear in everyone when the said person himself was not aware of that right now. They became restless and could not sit still, instead pacing back and forth while muttering something along the lines of ‘what to do’ repeatedly. Some of them clutched their head tightly and yanked their hair hard enough they could go bald anytime soon, as if acknowledging the fact that they definitely messed up pretty bad this time. Anyway, they were a dead meat once Akashi woke up. 

On other side of the court, one of the first string member on Kise’s team was standing still in his place, while his friend desperately shook his body trying to snap him out of his trance state. It was not a surprised in this current situation to find out that someone else aside from Kuroko had an indifferent and blank look on their face while imaginary white soul could be seen escaping their mouth. They shook their head vigorously, willing for it to be just a bad dream but reality was cruel to them as it hit them pretty hard without mercy seeing that Akashi still out cold on the floor. It was like taking care of precious, fragile glass that ended up broken to thousand pieces when smashed to the floor. It hurts. The pain and fear was unbearable that they just wanted to jump off the cliff or disappear from this world like a fog rather than facing the wrath of one Akashi Seijuurou. Yeah. That sounds much better options to them than facing the devil himself.

They released a long sighed. To their dismay, they did knocked Akashi out of his life and just remembering it left a bitter taste in their mouth. They grimaced in pain, lamenting their bad luck they had today. Even though they were not the culprit who hit Akashi’s head with the ball, still it involved them as a whole. Of all people in the entire gymnasium, why must it be the Akashi Seijuurou? If it was someone else, they would just apologized properly and took them to the infirmary afterwards. Well, accidents did happened all the time as basketball was kind of a rough sport and they tend to be a bit aggressive when triggered with adrenaline rush. So having bruised here and there was a sight they used to see. But, when it came to Akashi Seijuurou, they were more afraid and fear for their life instead. They could not just brushed it off like nothing happened at all when something did happened. 

Everyone began to fall under self-loathing, pondering why did it happened to them. Just what did they do to deserve such treatment? They wonder if God really hate them or something. They could not help but felt sorry for their pitiful life. However, nothing could be done about what had happened. It was useless to pry about it anymore not that they could change it or prevent it from happened anyway. It was an impossible thing to do and they all knew it. However, the most important thing right now was their vice-captain’s condition. Punished or not, it was a matter to be decided later. They needed to accept the fact and move on. After battling with their inner self, they finally resigned and surrendered their fate in the hands of their vice-captain, Akashi Seijuurou. This time for sure Akashi would not bother sparing their lives and would not be lenient with the punishment either. They just sighed exasperatedly. 

There were different kind of reactions coming out of them meanwhile the Miracles just stood there dumfounded. They were so shocked and speechless that no words came out of their mouth except from the widening of their eyes which almost look like a saucer. Kise like always fussing and wailing over Akashi while Aomine’s face was white as a sheet, contrast to his naturally tanned skin colour. They could not believe what they saw either. It was not like Akashi to be defeated by a mere ball. However, that thought could be save for later. Right now they had to make sure Akashi was alright and all.

They immediately rushed towards the redhead and surrounded him. They hovered over him and eyed the redhead curiously. His eyes were closed tightly and his breathing was faint as if he was a dead man. His face was pale, even paler than Kuroko whose face drained of any color after the dreaded training. They threw silent and worried glances among themselves and fixed it on their vice-captain afterwards. Sure, he was intimidating and scary sometimes but it did not mean that they did not care about him. 

“Is he dead?” One of the members asked anxiously, voice a bit shaken. All of them instantly turned their heads to face the member, almost snapping their necks in the process. They wanted to scold him because of his lack of tact but then brushed it off after seeing his genuinely worried face. 

Midorima took the initiative and sat down on his knee in front of Akashi. He began checking Akashi’s body like an expert doctor. “Looks like he was just unconscious.” Midorima said after inspecting Akashi’s condition. “No broken bone. He may look fine on the outside but we still not know if he had any internal injury especially the head” He added afterwards. 

Everyone nodded in understanding, relieved that nothing bad will happen to Akashi. For now anyway. They had to wait for him to wake up for further inquiry. For a moment, they forgot about the depressive state they were in earlier and gave their full attention to Akashi. 

Kise on the other hand sobbed like a child beside Akashi. He carefully propped Akashi’s head on his lap and run a hand on his hair affectionately. Akashi did not even budged a muscle from Kise’s action. He looked so peaceful in his deep slumber. Kise gently traced Akashi’s forehead as the angry red mark could be seen making its appearance on his creamy white skin. Everyone was deep in thought. The silent environment was broken when Kise spoke his piece of mind. 

“Aominecchi. It’s your fault Akashicchi ended up like this!!” Kise accused Aomine while glaring dagger at him. His eyes still had tears pooling in it, making it more dramatic and pitiful to the people watching the scene unfolded in front of them. 

“What?! How is that my fault?!” Aomine snarled back at him. “Akashi was the one who did not dodge the ball” He stated his point strongly to defend himself. 

“If you did not steal the ball, then it would not go his way” Kise added afterwards. 

Aomine clicked his tongue and just shrugged his body. He nonchalantly picked his right ear with the pinky finger. 

“Like I said, it was not my fault if the ball slipped from my hands!! Tetsu’s Ignite Pass Kai is too powerful and strong. My hand still hurt from the contact earlier.” Aomine said lazily while inspected his right hand at the same time. His palm was red and it hurts like hell. 

“The ball was mine to begin with. Kurokocchi passed it to me! If you want to steal the ball then catch it properly” Kise exclaimed angrily. 

“That’s right, Aomine-kun. I intended to pass the ball to Kise-kun. You are the one who intercept it midway and change the trajectory towards Akashi-kun” Kuroko deadpanned. It was the truth of what truly happened but his monotone voice and expressionless face did nothing to help strengthen his point at all. 

“See. You are the one at fault here.” Kise backed it up and was adamant to pin the fault at Aomine anyway. 

“Tetsu you little bastard!!” Aomine snapped and glared at Kuroko, feeling betrayed by his shadow. Kuroko just looked at him with his usual deadpanned expression and shrugged his body, not wanting to make any more comment. 

“Mine-chin, I will crush you!!” Murasakibara said while staring down at Aomine menacingly. Aomine could feel dark aura emanated from Murasakibara, making him gulped his saliva unconsciously.

Midorima could not stand to watch the scene in front of his eyes anymore and voiced his discomfort loudly. “Stop it, fools. Now was not the time to point fingers at each other” He said while crossing both of his hands at his chest. 

“But Midorimacchi….” Kise wailed, his eyes were puffy and red. 

Midorima sighed. “Hmm. It can’t be helped. It is rather unfortunate if I might say. Sagittarius ranked last today, nanodayo. Oha Asa stated that Sagittarius will have unforeseen trouble today but I did not expect it would turn out this way” Midorima said seriously while fixing his eyes on Akashi’s body. 

“…………………” 

“What?” Midorima asked, baffled when he felt the atmosphere suddenly fell silent. He realized all of them were staring at him like he had grown two head. 

That was what really happened. Everyone just stared at him dumbfounded. His heavy sighed and serious tone he used make them assumed he would come out with a theory in law of physics or medicinal knowledge or something brilliant instead of Oha Asa’s horoscope. So their deadpanned reaction were kind of expected. Well, it was Midorima we were talking about. That kind of answer was most likely to come out from Midorima after all. His weird obsession with Oha Asa and lucky item were not a new things to them anymore. However, one thing dawned upon them after hearing Midorima’s words. To think that Oha Asa’s prediction came true, just how scary that could be. 

 

xXXXXx

 

After what seemed like forever, Akashi’s brows twitched slightly, a sign that he had regain his consciousness. Kise watched his reaction attentively until he finally saw Akashi’s eyes fluttered open slowly. Kise screamed Akashi’s name loudly, earning attention from the bickering members towards his direction. As if on cue, they once again gathered around him to see what was that screamed about. The moment Akashi’s eyes fully opened, ruby eyes met honey gold eyes. They stared at each other for a few second until Akashi broke the contact and stared aimlessly at the faces of the people surrounding him. Then, he directed his gaze back towards Kise. His face appeared blank, rivalling Kuroko’s usual expression. The people surrounding him could not help but feeling intrigued after seeing the usually composed Akashi looked so fragile and vulnerable. That time, what crossed their mind was Akashi having that kind of face making him look more like a human being rather than a robot with no will of his own. 

Akashi looked directly into Kise’s eyes with a frown on his face. Then he blinked few times to shoo away the fog that seemingly clouded his mind, which prevent him from thinking rationally.

“Kise?” Akashi finally uttered some word though it was Kise’s name. His voice was a little hoarse and raspy. He winced slightly as he felt his mouth dried and his voice sounded strange to his ears. 

Midorima helped Akashi sat up properly and immediately gave him a bottle of water for him to drink. Akashi accepted the drink gratefully, nodding his head to Midorima, thanking him for the drink. After all, he felt like his mouth was so dry it hurt so much to even speak properly. Without caring of the surrounding, he drank the water greedily like a person who was stranded in Sahara Desert for a month without water. Akashi sighed, relief that he felt like his body finally gained some energy from the water even if it was just a little. After Akashi finally settled down, Midorima cupped Akashi’s face and stared directly in his ruby eyes. His doctor sense was tingling as he began asking questions like a real doctor would to his patient. 

“Who are you? What day is today? Do you remember what happened?” Midorima blurted out his questions while Akashi was taken aback slightly, quite confuse. He raised his brows, silently asking him to explain himself. Why asking the obvious was what Akashi thought to himself. 

Midorima just stared at him intently without breaking the eye contact and gave him a stern look as if he was expecting akashi to answer it by all means. Akashi on the other hand was deep in thought after he observed Midorima’s reaction. It was unusual for Midorima to be so uptight since he always act like he did not care at all. Well, everyone knew he was a tsundere even though the said person himself always denied it. Midorima was a hardworking person and always stayed out of trouble. He would only make a fuss if he deemed something was important that he needed to take care of it himself. He would do anything in his power to make his life better and ensure luck was on his side every day. So, him making that kind of face and asking those questions were something to be reckoned for.

Akashi sighed. He knew Midorima would not be satisfied until Akashi answered his questions.

“I’m Akashi Seijuurou of course. Friday, 20 June 20XX. Year 2 class A at Teikou Middle School” Akashi answered confidently. He stopped for a while to look at Midorima’s reaction to his answers. 

Midorima nodded in approval, pleased with his precise answer. As expected of Akashi. He even added another fact to convince Midorima of his state of memory. He was glad Akashi was his usual self and the fact that Akashi was fine makes his tense shoulder soften somehow. He raised his eyebrow a bit, asking him to keep going.

“As to the last question, I don’t really remember what happened actually. The last thing I knew, I heard people screaming my name and then I blacked out” Akashi tried to recollect his memories but it was too fuzzy and blurry. He groaned when he felt his head throbbing painfully like it was forcefully split opened. 

Unbeknownst to him, the other members nearly cried tears of joy while pumping their fists in the air. They almost did a victory run around the court like a soccer player did when winning the games but managed to refrain themselves from doing so. They silently thanking the God up above with teary eyes after hearing Akashi’s answer to that particular question. It was so dramatic and heartfelt, almost like hearing an award winning speech. 

Midorima gestured to him to calm down by making him breathing in and out slowly. He wanted Akashi to take it easy, not to overexert himself. After all, his body was still weak and he needed plenty of rest in order to restore his energy back to normal.

“Figured. After all, the ball hit you pretty hard in the head not to mention you fell on the floor unguarded. But, worry not. It was just temporary and everything will be much better after you have enough rest” Midorima said confidently while fixing his glasses. 

The cheery atmosphere suddenly turned gloomy. The other members froze on their spot, face paled after hearing Midorima’s words. They could not help but felt dejected, not expecting it to turn out that way. So, it was a matter of time until Akashi recalled back what happened today. They could feel their heart crushed to thousand pieces, leaving them numb and pained. God was so cruel to them. Why gave them hope when it would get destroyed mercilessly a few minutes later? Anyway, whatever happened they must not lost hope yet. They still had time left until their inevitable death. They just had to pray to whatever God up there to grant their wishes so that Akashi would never bring out the accident happened today in the near future or else they were doomed. 

Akashi released a heavy sighed after he had calm down a bit. “I apologized for all the troubles I had cause today” Akashi broke the silent atmosphere and all eyes were on him, waiting for him to continue what he wanted to say. 

“I’m fine now. You don’t have to worry. All of you can go back to practice once again” He said calmly afterwards. 

Akashi tried to stand up but he staggered a bit and his movement was too sluggish. He frowned as his leg would not move like what he wanted to. Akashi could not helped but gritted his teeth harder as he tried again, this time with all his might he could gather. He wanted to at least stand by his own power. After all, he hated being weak and helpless. 

“Akashicchi, I think it’s better for you to go to the infirmary and rest. Your face still looks pale though” Kise said worriedly. 

“There is no need. I want to see through you practice for today and I will rest after I get home” Akashi said firmly. 

“But, Akashicchi….” Kise tried to retort but then he stopped midway after Akashi glared at him, making him flinched slightly. All of them unconsciously gulped their saliva, knew better not to get on Akashi’s bad side.

“Akashi-kun..” Kuroko chimed in, making all the people around him yelped and jumped in surprised, except Akashi. Damn, Kuroko and his weak presence! They cursed mentally while clutching their chest, feeling their heart beating rapidly due to the sudden interruption. They swore to God they never got used to Kuroko’s antics even if they spent most of the time practising together. That guy was easily forgotten and his weak presence did not helped them at all. 

Akashi faced Kuroko in the eyes, interested in what he wanted to say. “I know it is your responsibility as a vice-captain to watch over us. But for once, can you loosen up a bit? Maybe going to the infirmary is a first step to that.” Kuroko said carefully, worried if Akashi might take his advice the wrong way. 

Kuroko observed Akashi’s expression and body language attentively. As Kuroko had expected, Akashi was so stubborn and would not change his mind from his earlier decision. 

“I’m perfectly fine, Kuroko. Nothing I could not han…” Akashi opened his mouth to refuse his suggestion but Kuroko cut him off before he could finish his sentence, earning shocked gasped from all of the club members presence in the gymnasium. 

Kuroko frown, a bit irritated. “Akashi-kun could be so stupid sometimes. Why can’t he understand that everyone is worried about him.” Kuroko blurted out suddenly. He refer to Akashi as a third person as if Akashi was not there with them at the moment. 

As if on cue, all pairs of eyes turned to Kuroko’s direction. Their eyes were wide as saucer as they stared at Kuroko, mouth gaping unceremoniously at his blunt words which definitely took them by surprised. They could not believe him dare making such a bold move against Akashi.

Akashi was taken aback slightly at the sudden remarks. However, it only last a moment before his shocked expression turned into a smirk afterwards. As expected of Kuroko. He was direct and blunt as always. It never ceased to amaze him how Kuroko managed to exceed his expectations every now and then. 

“I believe Akashi-kun knew better than anyone else not to overexert himself and getting hurt in the process. He should take care of himself more otherwise he would break if he continue doing so” Kuroko said softly as he stared at Akashi in the eyes.

Akashi looked like he was deep in thought. Kuroko was glad Akashi decided to give it a thought at least rather than refused him outright. He saw it as a chance and tried to push his luck in order to convince Akashi to take his advice. 

“Akashi-kun, we care about you. We just don’t want you to get hurt again” Kuroko added afterwards. What you need to do right now is rest. Midorima-kun can take over in the meantime. You know he is capable of doing that, right?” Kuroko said gently as if he was talking to a rebellious kindergarten kid. He peered at Midorima’s direction and earning a confirmation nod from him. 

Akashi was silent for a while. He looked like he was weighing the pros and cons of the suggestion given. “Very well. I take your suggestion for now” Kuroko was relieved after hearing those words. His mouth curved upwards slightly, almost non-existent to people’s eyes except Akashi who was facing him directly “Then, I will leave the rest for you to handle, Midorima”. He said to Midorima specifically afterwards. 

Midorima nodded his head and said “Yeah. You can count on me for that” while fixing his glasses. He reassured Akashi not to worry too much about the practice and just get enough rest to recover his energy. Midorima was confident with his capabilities to handle things and always do his very best in everything he did. Besides, he had his lucky item for today so nothing could go wrong for him. 

“Kuroko” Kuroko looked at Midorima questioningly as he heard his name was called by the said person. “Take Akashi to the infirmary” He said after he had Kuroko’s attention on him. 

“Eh? Why me?” Kuroko said confusingly while pointing fingers at himself, not sure if he heard him right. After all he had low stamina and he could not even lift Akashi who was heavier than him. He stared blankly at Midorima, asking him to explain himself.

“Your misdirection almost run out, right?” Midorima asked, earning a confirmation nodded from Kuroko. You will be bench in the next quarter anyway so I hope I can count on you to take Akashi to the infirmary. Also, don’t forget to recover yourself when you get there” He added. 

Suddenly, his face became serious. Kuroko was wondering what cause such reactions from him. “Besides, Aquarius ranked first today. Since Sagittarius ranked last, I figured Akashi will need all the luck you have today so you are the perfect person for that task” Midorima said confidently. 

Kuroko looked at him dumbfounded. Oha-Asa huh? Kuroko was not one to believe in such a thing like fate, luck and all but he respected Midorima’s way of life. 

“Then, it can’t be helped” Kuroko decided after hearing Midorima’s reasoning. Kuroko moved towards Akashi and wrapped Akashi’s left hand on his shoulder while his right hand encircle Akashi’s waist gently. Akashi flinched at the sudden contact of their body. It was the first time their body pressed together so close like this and he felt his heart racing quickly and his face was so hot that he wanted to bury himself in the hole for that. 

“I’m fine Kuroko. You don’t have to. I can walk by myself” Akashi wanted to shake off the fluttering feeling he felt in his heart and detached himself from Kuroko. He tried to walk by himself but his legs were shaking and the steps he took were rather small.

Kuroko sighed. “Akashi-kun. You walked like a toddler. I could not bear to see it so let me help you” Kuroko finally said in his monotone voice. His face was blank as ever. Akashi did not know whether he wanted to laugh or feel insulted by that. Instead, he rolled his eyes and shrugged his body. Kuroko took it as a yes and wrapped his hand on Akashi’s waist again. They walked to the infirmary casually while exchanging words between themselves. 

 

xXXXXx

 

Since after that incident, Midorima became more fixated with Oha Asa horoscope and predictions and always make sure to watch it every morning religiously before going to school. He would make sure he had his lucky item prepared for the day so that luck was on his side all the time. Him bringing weird stuff and cute things with him to school was a sight the students used to see every day. So they paid him no mind and no longer gave him a weird look. Some even asked him where did he find the rare items and awfully cute things in his collections. He just snorted at that and answered them regardless. However, that was not all. His extreme passion for Oha Asa not only revolved in his own Cancer sign but even extending to the GOMs’. Sometimes he would give Akashi and Kuroko their lucky item for the day if they happened to rank last for that particular day. Then he would make an excuse about not wanting something bad to happen again but denied it strongly whenever people said he was worried and do care about them actually. Well, he was a tsundere all right. 

There was always a reason to everything that happened in people’s life. More importantly, the incident surely became the new light that sparks something in the hearts of an emperor and the phantom.


	7. AS BLUE AS THE SKY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -hey guys,,just want to let you know that i'm still alive and kicking..huhu  
> -i will probably go MIA again for a while so this is the least I could do  
> -Enjoy~~~

Seasons changed and it was now an early March of the year. The air was slightly cold and chilly but it was still bearable with only light clothing on. The icy white scenery in the winter was replaced with green hue where the leaves finally filled a few parts of the trees. Flower buds also began making its appearance on the tree branches, indicating that the spring season would come soon. It sure was amazing, the sight of tiny little buds blossomed nicely until it became fully well-developed and beautiful flowers at the end. It makes people wanted to treasure and appreciate the beauty of it, more so if the flowers only blossomed during the spring season. 

Time sure flies by quickly. It was spring when Kuroko first woke up on a rooftop of one of the buildings in the Teikou Middle School. He still remembered that fateful day pretty well. The day where his new life as a ghost began and barely alive The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes, he was awarded with a mesmerizing crimson gold colour smeared in the open wide sky. The fluttering of sakura petals in the air blown by the winds make it look more beautiful than ever just like a background painting, so perfect which left him stunned and loss for words to describe the beauty of it. It was so pretty and livid, definitely a sight to behold. The scenery was captured deeply in his eyes and mind so there was no way he would forget it although the undeniable fact (where he became a ghost) that came with it left him wavered slightly. 

Come to think of it, it was almost a year since Kuroko had lived his life as a ghost without any of his past memories. However, he still could not see the end of it, much to his dismay. He was sure such thing would not happened in the near future anyway. Well, with his zero memories and all. At first Kuroko was a bit lost and dispirited upon the discovery, but then little by little he tried to adapt to the new feelings and surroundings until he finally got used to his new life. All thanks to the help he received from Koichi-san and the other fellow ghosts. He really was thankful and grateful for their support and all. He really meant it. Really. Well, he preferred not to say it out loud in front of Koichi-san though. That guy was too full of himself. Kuroko definitely did not want to see the smug look plastered all over his face at that. 

Anyway, living as a ghost, somehow it was quite convenient for Kuroko. Mostly he did not have any need to eat or sleep and he only sleeps occasionally when he felt like it. Actually, it was not that he was any better in his previous life anyway, in term of eating habit specifically. Who in the world could live their life with only drinking vanilla milkshake all the time during their meals to the point of being obsessed with it. Well, apparently Kuroko Tetsuya did. 

Kuroko had small appetite to begin with so he only ate small portion of the meals or else he would get a stomach ache if he over consume. So eating was never a big problem to him. He prefer to drink milkshake instead, his favourite drink and Kuroko could go on living as long as he could get his hands on the drink. His teammates, Akashi Seijuurou and Midorima Shintarou often lectured him about his unhealthy eating habits but Kuroko reassured them he would not get sick from just drinking milkshake. It was not even alcoholic. Knowing him, they let him be since Kuroko and milkshake were a must-put-words in a sentence. Means that, they could not be separated. They knew Kuroko would do anything for his dose of milkshake. There was one time where Aomine accidentally spilled Kuroko’s milkshake when he was bickering with Kise. Sure, Kuroko was small, huggable and seems harmless but angry Kuroko was not cute at all. They swore Kuroko was scarier than Akashi when he got angry. They only managed to calm him down when Murasakibara gave Kuroko one of his vanilla ice-cream instead. Thank God Kuroko was back to normal but that incident still scared the shit out of them. They learnt their lesson that day to never underestimate one Kuroko Tetsuya and his milkshake. Well, that did happened before but Kuroko did not remember it anyway.

Being a ghost was not that bad. Kuroko got some amazing ability which all of the ghosts possessed. Levitation. For human, it was impossible to defy gravity however this did not apply to ghost apparently. Kuroko could control his body pretty well when on air and he could jump from one building to another easily without worrying for getting hurt as their body could not feel any pain. Well, not that they would get hurt anyway. That was because they could easily go through any building or wall and came out unscathed. He also could appear and disappear out of his own will. Amazing right? 

Being invisible to human eyes also excite Kuroko. He could board the train freely without having to pay for the tickets and just wandering around as he pleased. Kuroko enjoyed going to different places, visits famous places and all to satisfy his curiosity. He could do anything he like that he could not do when living as a human since he got pretty much all free time, anyway. At first, he often stick with Koichi-san and followed him everywhere. As time gone by, he decided to be independent and be on his own. Koichi-san agreed and supported his decision and they promised to meet with each other someday. Kuroko continued his journey and somehow he ended up in some rural neighbourhood in Kyoto these few days.

Overall, his life was pretty simple anyway. No matter how hard he try, he still could not remember anything and everything seems unfamiliar to him. Nothing reminded him of his life or whatsoever. Kuroko decided to take his time and try his best. Sometimes, he did feel lonely and hoped to be noticed by people other than his fellow ghosts, small children and animals. Kuroko always fond of children and cute animals like dogs and cats, even his former human-self shared the same trait. He often spent his evening at the park, surrounded himself with people even though he was invisible to them. 

“It must be nice to be alive” Kuroko said longingly as he watched the kids playing soccer at the park. It was lively here in the park even though there were not many people out at the moment.

The kids seemed to enjoy themselves and played to their heart content like there was no tomorrow. Kuroko sat on the bench and did his usual thing, observing people of course. Guess it could not be helped as he used to do that a lot before. If only he knew. He liked to observe people’s expressions and their behaviours. Some were laughing with their friends, some were stressed out office workers looking for a relieved, and Kuroko could see many emotions in the human. Human. Kuroko was wondering how did if feel to be human. Did he have many friends? Did he also laugh and have fun with his friends? What about his family? 

Kuroko was lost in his own thought and did not take notice of his surroundings. He got distracted as he felt something nudged at his shoes. He looked down to see a cute, black fur dog stared at him and wagged his tail happily. The dog barked at him and Kuroko’s round eyes sparkled with delight. 

“Aren’t you cute little one?” The dog barked once, as if agreed with him. Kuroko chuckled. 

“What is your name?” Kuroko asked gently like people would do when interacting with the small children. He reached for the collar at its neck and read the name imprinted on it. It said “Kiki” clearly. 

Kuroko stroked the soft fur and the back of his ear while his other hand rubbed the exposed belly gently. The dog whined in pleasure and kept wagging his tail. Kuroko chuckled at the cute response he got from the dog. 

“Ahh!!. There you are, Kiki!!” A high-pitch voice sounded from his right side.

A young boy with brown hair was running towards his direction. Kuroko watched him carefully until the brunette stopped in front of him, panted. Both of his hands on his knees to support his body as he gasped for air. The boy looked no older than 13. Maybe he was in elementary school considering his short stature and child-like voice. 

“Geez. Stop disappearing on me while I’m not looking.” The brunette leaned forward and took the dog in his embrace. He hugged the dog lovingly and turned his head towards Kuroko. 

“Thank you for taking care of him” The boy said while bowing his head respectfully. Kuroko was taken aback at the sudden greeting. His eyes were wide as saucers and he stared at the boy with gaping mouth.

“Did the boy just talked to me? Like talked TO ME specifically?” Kuroko asked mentally. He looked around and see no one else was present there beside him and the boy. Kuroko was kind of confused and he was sure no one would be able to see him but the boy did thanked him just now.

Kuroko looked back at the boy and saw him staring intently at him. “Ano, are you talking to me?” Kuroko asked instead. He wanted to make sure he heard it right and was not mistaken. 

“Yes, I did” The boy answered. Kuroko released a sigh and he was glad he did not make a mistake about it. He definitely heard the boy thanked him before. Then realization dawned upon him and he widen his eyes comically at that. 

“Ww..wait. You can see me?” Kuroko was asking rather hurriedly. The boy looked rather confused but answered him instead. 

“Yeah. Why? Am I not supposed to?” The boy tilted his head cutely.

Kuroko was stiffen for a while and he did not know whether to break the news or just play along with him. Maybe telling the boy he was a ghost was a bit too much for a kid like him.

“Emm. Well, normally people could not see me often so it is quite shocking actually” Kuroko said vaguely. He scratched his right cheek and avoided his eyes from the boy. He did not want to scare the boy and make him cry or something.

“I see. So you are a ghost” The boy said calmly while stroking his dog’s fur. 

Kuroko was taken aback by the sudden remarks. What a bold thing to say for a kid like him. Shouldn’t he be scared, screaming or crying or something like that? Normally that was the first reaction out of the human when they heard about ghost. But this boy was different. He said it like it was nothing, like he was used to it.

As if reading Kuroko’s thought, the boy said quietly. “I know I’m weird and my friends said so. But it’s okay. I’m used to it already”. The boy wore solemn look on his face.

Kuroko lunged his hand forward and ruffled the boy’s hair. He smiled warmly at the boy. Such a small and fragile human. Kuroko had a sudden need to comfort him and make him feel better again.

“Hey. Being different is not a crime. It means that you are not like any other average person. Not just anyone can have that ability of yours so you are really a special one. Remember that” Kuroko reassured him. He may not good with words but he knew kids like it when the parents paid attention or comforting them when they had problems. 

The boy nodded his head and leaned towards Kuroko’s hand on his hair. Kuroko chuckled slightly and continued his ministration on him. Kuroko felt like a big brother comforting his problematic baby brother. Maybe that was how it felt to have a family, comforting each other. It has been a while since he spoke to a human and make a contact with them. So he was quite giddy and happy at the situation right now.

“Ahh. It’s already late. I have to go home” The boy looked at his watch and looked again at Kuroko’s face. Kuroko nodded his head in acknowledgment and put down his hand on his side.

“By the way, my name is Aikawa Ritsu,,” his words trailed off and he stared intently at Kuroko, as if asking for his name in return. Kuroko startled for a bit and then smiled warmly at him.

“Sora. You can call me Sora” Kuroko answered. Actually, Sora was not his real name. Kuroko still could not remember his life and he definitely did not know his real name so he said his name was Sora instead. It was a simple name given to him by Koichi-san. Koichi-san said Kuroko’s hair was so soft and blue, reminded him of a clear blue sky. Kuroko agreed to use it as his official name for now until he find his real name later on.

“Then, see you tomorrow Sora nii-chan!!” The boy said while waving his hand before walking away with his dog. Kuroko looked at the retreating figure until the boy was no longer in his view. He sighed and leaned against the bench. 

 

xXXXXx

 

They met with each other at the park every evening for a month. Sometimes, Ritsu would come alone or walked his dog at the park. They played, chat and have fun together. He even told Kuroko how he was able to see ghost when he was a child. Kuroko listened to his story attentively and sometimes would throw a few comment here and there. 

At first, he was so scared of ghost. He even cried nonstop when he encountered a ghost when he was five. His mother comforted him and said he was not being punished by God and he would get used to it eventually. Not all ghost are scary but sometime he was wary of them too. Well, he was still a child in mind and body and a child has really great imagination. Sometimes he thought all of that was just his imagination, not a reality. But he knew better than that. Actually, his family was kind of special, have long history of being able to see ghost. Moreover, his grandparents were living at the shrine and religiously worshipping the God. Maybe their special ability was a gift given by God. Who knew. He used to hate this ability of his but Ritsu was glad because of it he was able to meet Kuroko. 

They talked almost about everything. Kuroko have nothing much to tell Ritsu about himself. So, he was content by being a listener instead. Ritsu often talked to Kuroko about himself, his mother, his family, his friends, how they always made fun of him for being able to see ghost and called him a liar because of that. Most of his friend at school would avoid him and sometimes he was bullied by the upperclassmen. Ritsu even skipped school and this worried his mother greatly. He knew he could not afford to burden his mother with his problem but he was too sad and alone. He began to isolate himself in his room and avoid mingling with people. His mother bought him a dog as a therapy for him, in attempt to make him feel better so he kind of feel bad for it. He knew he was being selfish and all so he tried his best to make her happy at the least.

Because of that, he was able to meet Kuroko. Who knew he could talk this much with a stranger and a ghost nonetheless. His mother also noted that he had changed for the better and really happy for him. Ritsu told her about Kuroko and she accepted it with open heart. After all, she knew better and not all ghost were bad ghost. 

Their meeting continued for another month and they met in the park like usual that evening. 

“Nii-san” Ritsu suddenly called out to Kuroko at his side. They were laying on the grass at the park and staring at the vast sky. Kuroko hummed and continued staring at the sky.

“Do you want to be my brother and live with us?” Ritsu asked him. Kuroko snapped his head towards Ritsu almost immediately. He was so shocked if his wide eyes were any indication to it. 

“I asked mum and she was okay with it” Ritsu said firmly. Kuroko met Ritsu’s mom once when Kuroko spent some time in Ritsu’s room. Of course she could see him perfectly.

Kuroko still remembered it clearly when she was just coming back from work and thought that someone was broken into her house and almost hit Kuroko with a broom. It was until Ritsu told her the truth that she was able to calm down. She apologized later on and told him that she was too tired and could not think properly. Just what a scary family they were. 

“Are you sure? I’m a ghost you know” Kuroko reminded him. He raised his eyebrow slightly and peered towards Ritsu to see his reaction.

“Yeahh. We are aware of that. She said she likes you and she did not mind at all” Ritsu grinned cheekily. Kuroko laughed at that and ruffled his hair affectionately.

“I would love to” Kuroko said with a bright smile. They continued staring at the sky, so wide and blue until it was time to go home. His new home. 

Kuroko hoped tomorrow will be a lot more fun, being with other person, not just by himself. He longed for a company, for people to see him and he was glad someone heard his wish and make it a reality. Who knows someday he would remember his previous life after spending his time with some human he could call family. He could only hope.


	8. AKASHI MASAOMI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of stuck right now. I have the idea roughly but I don't know how to write it in details.  
> More importantly I'm really really bad at making conversation plot!!!! How the characters should interact, what thing they need to say. It ended up like a story telling on my part..huhu..Right now I just go with whatever I feel at the moment. Screw plot development.~~   
> I like Shattered Miracles by Mafy_mod. The story was really detailed and lots of conversation happened there. Maybe I should sort out things and make a planning first.   
> Anyway, enjoy my story telling,,hahaha

Akashi Masaomi was the current head of the Akashi family, one of the richest and influential family in Japan. He was a tall man in his late 40’s with fiery red hair which was the most prominent trait of an Akashi and had a pair of piercing ember eyes that accentuated his perfect angular face. He appeared young despite his age due to his handsome face and sturdy figure. Akashi Masaomi was a charismatic businessman who was respected and at the same time feared by his business partners in business world due to his excellent capabilities in all aspects and his ever intimidating presence. For lack of better words, his entire being screamed power and authority. He had this terrifying aura of an absolute ruler like he was born solely to be a leader.

Akashi Masaomi was the current CEO of the infamous Akashi Corporation, a big company based on import and export of goods which covered almost every part of Japan. Their headquarters was located in Tokyo and it was a no surprise if they managed to extend their influence internationally where they had their own branch in New York. Akashi Corporation was the most successful and profitable company in Japan as stated in the BizTV. It was the hot topic in business world these last few years and everyone wanted to be a part of it. It was clear as day that Akashi Masaomi was the person responsible for bringing the Akashi Corporations to the peak of its glory as it was nowadays. 

His only son, Akashi Seijuurou also bore the same aura as him. He was perfect in all aspects, be his handsome appearance, strong personality or his brilliant minds. So his excellent performances in school academics and strong leadership were not a shocking news either. As the only heir of Akashi Corporation, Akashi Seijuurou was expected to take over the company when he was old enough to do so. Looking back to all his successful achievements, Akashi Seijuurou would definitely make a great leader in the future and the Akashi Corporation shall flourish under his command. 

Speaking of Seijuurou, people always said that his son was a spitting image of him, like father like son. Masaomi just snorted proudly at those comments. Why stated the obvious? Of course Seijuurou would grow to be just like him because he said so himself. What did they expect anyway? Seijuurou to be a cliché spoiled rich young master who only enjoyed wasting their money here and there? Hell no. It was his job to make sure Seijuurou grew to be a proper and excellent son who was worthy of becoming his rightful heir. Masaomi’s order was absolute and as his son, Seijuurou must abide by his words. All of it was for his own sake anyway. 

 

xXXXXx

 

Akashi Corporation HQ, Tokyo

Masaomi groaned slightly as he put out his working glasses next to the paperwork and leaned his body against the comfy leather chair at his mahogany work desk in his office. He gently massaged the area between the nose and the eyes with his thumb and index finger to ease the pain and closed his strained eyes for a while. He decided to take a break from his work because his eyes started to become hazy and affected his vision as he had been staring at the paperwork nonstop since from the morning. 

Masaomi sighed. Today was a busy day just like the other days. He had to attend meetings with the board members and business partners also sign an endless pile of the paperworks. Not to mention other matters also needed his attention so he was a little exhausted and tired in mind and body. However, he could not complained except endured the workloads as it was just a small price he had to pay compared to what came after which was the successful of his company. 

He rested his head on the headrest comfortably and stared absentmindedly at the ceiling, seemingly lost in his own world. He released another sighed and glanced towards the family photos on his desk. It was a picture of him and his late wife, Akashi Shiori who was holding their only son, Seijuurou in her arm with the beautiful garden in their mansion as the background of it. The picture was taken a few months after Seijuurou was born and they looked just perfect, like a wonderful happy family. Beside that picture was the picture of baby Seijuurou with his favourite bunny plushie, smiling innocently towards the camera. 

Masaomi chuckled slightly when he looked at that adorable expressions on Seijuurou’s face. The other picture was when Shiori first introduced basketball to Seijuurou. He was holding the ball with one hand and the other make a peace sign while grinning happily. Her wife was standing beside him, a big smile adorned her beautiful face. Masaomi caressed the picture affectionately. He was looking at it with fond eyes and automatically his mouth curved upwards. It was a kind, gentle and genuine smile. One he only showed on special occasion. 

Truthfully, Masaomi loved his son albeit his cold demeanor towards him. Even though he was bad at showing it or more like he was damn horrible at it, he really did love him deeply. Seijuurou was the most precious things in this world that connected him and Shiori physically. He was the proved of their love, which was a part of him and a part of Shiori’s. Seijuurou greatly resembled him in appearance, be his hair colour or smooth creamy white skin. But personality wise he was inclined more towards Shiori’s. Kind, gentle and loving. Exactly just like her. 

Masaomi admitted that he was really awkward around children and at times appeared cold but he somehow managed to overcome it and be a good father to Seijuurou because Shiori was there by his side. At first, Shiori was his arranged marriage partner his family chose for him. They never really met before even though both families had good relationship with each other. They got married and gradually came to love each other genuinely. They were perfect for each other, both making up what the other was lacking. Shiori meant the world to him and his most important life support. Masaomi felt like he could conquer the world just with her presence by his side. Not only that, Seijuurou’s birth was a blessing to them since they had waited for a long time to have a child on their own and with that, their little family was completed. 

Life was not always full of sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes, there were ups and downs but they managed to overcome it together. However, not everything will go like they want. Fate had something else stored for them. It was when they had to taste a bitter truth which pained them greatly. Everything started to fall apart after his beloved wife was diagnosed with incurable disease. According to the doctor in charge, the disease already spread over her whole body and she only had at least 2 year left to live. The sudden news hit him like a wild tornado, crushing his heart to pieces. Masaomi did tried his best to find the cure but it was futile. There was no hope and the medication she took could no longer prolong her life. Only time would decide her fate. 

Shiori was indeed a strong woman. She accepted her fate with all her might and lived her remaining life to the fullest. At first she was broken hearted and cried nonstop, whenever she thought of leaving the ones she loved the most. Who would not felt devastated over the fact that her precious baby would become an orphan at such young age. Her Seijuurou was only 8 years old and he needed her mother at his side, tending to his needs, showered him with boundless love and affections. She still had many things to teach him. To think that she did not even get to see him growing up, going to university, became a proper adult, or even get married someday made her heart clenched painfully. 

As time goes by, rather than succumbed to the sadness, Shiori decided to enjoy what little time she had left with her beloved family so that she would not regret for not doing it later. Masaomi never saw her shed tears again over the matter and she always wore her best smiles all the times, to reassure the heart of the ones to be left behind and her own, of course. Masaomi felt so helpless because he could not do anything to avoid the inevitable death from happen. When the dreadful time came, he felt like he was falling into a bottomless pit. Dark and cold. So cold that he felt his soul died along with her, leaving him empty and numb. He had lose hope when the light of his life was no longer there to support him, guide him. 

A month went by and Masaomi still had difficulty accepting the fact that Shiori was no longer with him. He would always come home late at night, only after Seijuurou had gone to bed and they would missed each other in the morning since Masaomi made sure to leave early at the break of dawn in order to avoid bumping into Seijuurou. Sometimes, he did not even come back at all, leaving little Seijuurou in the care of their butler and maids. He kept his schedule as tight as possible to distract him from the pain of losing.

Truthfully, he never really looked at Seijuurou in the eyes after Shiori died because he was afraid his steeled heart would waver. That he would not want Seijuurou to see him in his weakest state in his life. After all, Seijuurou inherited the beautiful and gentle pair of ruby eyes from her. Just looking at the eyes makes him drown in memories and sadness. So he distanced himself from Seijuurou and buried himself in tons of work. That was how he found solace and kept himself from thinking about her or else he would go insane from grieved and depression. 

It became his usual routine each day for almost half a year. In the meantime, Masaomi started to change slowly as time goes by which was notable in his demeanour. He became cold-hearted and strict with the rules especially in the mansion. His warm presence was replaced with intimidating aura and intense stare, as if he was calculating the people’s worth and how it would benefit him the most. One day, as if he had a change of heart, Masaomi started spending some time for dinner with Seijuurou, asking him how his school life have been, did he study hard for his exam, did he attended all his extra lessons be it language, music class and so on. Masaomi noted that Seijuurou looked a bit awkward and nervous around him but he answered it nonetheless. Satisfied with the answers, he reprimanded Seijuurou to keep doing what he had been doing and never tarnish the name Akashi he bore. 

Masaomi may look like a pushy and heartless father to others eyes, but he only wanted the best for his son. As expected, Seijuurou was a bright son who was blessed with boundless potential and abilities, a little too much for his own good. Masaomi was delighted to hear that his son excelled in everything he did ever since he was young. Truthfully, he was proud of him but being a man of few words and actions, he spoke nothing of it as if it was a natural thing for Seijuurou to be able to do that much just like breathing. Instead of showered him with love and affection, he pressured Seijuurou even more to the point of being as perfect as humanly possible. 

“An Akashi must achieved victory in everything. The stronger would be feared and the weaker would be forgotten. Weakness itself was a failure and a failure must not exist in Akashi family dictionary” Those words were ingrained deeply inside Seijuurou’s mind. 

Masaomi kept repeating it like a broken record whenever he and Seijuurou had family dinner together after he came back from his outstation or when he summoned Seijuurou to his office in their home. Masaomi had to make sure Seijuurou was fully prepared to take over the company as the only heir of Akashi Corporation when the time came. He had high expection from Seijuurou and he had hope Seijuurou would exceed his expectation or even better surpass him someday. 

Masaomi knew too well Seijuurou would not go against his order. After all, Masaomi was his father. Seijuurou had always been an obedient child. He would never throw a tantrum even if something was not to his liking. Masaomi took advantage of that fact to make Seijuurou agreed to his demands. That was how he planned Seijuurou’s life and what he would be in the future. As expected, Seijuurou was too quick to learn something like everything was just a piece of cake to him, being a bright child he was. The more he excelled, the more he was given new things to add to his long list. Just name it. Languages, arts, musical instruments he excelled all of them with flying colours. 

At first, Seijuurou would scrunched his face and frown whenever Masaomi told him to take in new classes. His eyes would burn with defiance glint as if he wanted to retort that he had learned plenty of them already but he did not dare said it out loud. Seijuurou knew better not to defy his order as Masaomi would always had his way to make it happened at all costs. Masaomi also never forgot to keep reminding Seijuurou to always be the top in his class and not disgraced him and the name Akashi he bore whenever they saw eye to eye. However, as Seijuurou grew up, Masaomi could no longer see the light in Seijuurou’s eyes. It was dull and lifeless as if his soul was not there anymore, making it look empty. Like a programmed robot without the will of his own, Seijuurou heed by his command and did everything he was told without complained.

Masaomi sighed exasperatedly, almost groaned at the end of it. Never did he knew that the weight of his words became a huge burden to young Seijuurou. To think that the effect would be this extreme, he could do nothing but blame himself and only himself for it. Never in his life he felt so defeated and helpless after Shiori had died. Maybe this was his punishment for his selfish actions towards Seijuurou. He still remembered it clearly. It happened on Seijuurou’s third year of middle school. Masaomi still could not believe that Seijuurou suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) or widely known as split personality. A defensive mechanism built unconsciously to protect his state of mind due to trauma or pressure. After Shiori died, Masaomi left Seijuurou on his own, dealing with the loss and anguish by himself not to mention the continuous pressure he put on Seijuurou as the only heir of Akashi Corp. His mindless action cause Seijuurou to develop some sort of personality complex. 

Masaomi assumed that Seijuurou was at his limit and barely held onto his conscious mind. He finally snapped after bottling all his emotions inside for so long and then it happened. The appearance of absolute Akashi Seijuurou. Worst of all, he had turned him into a cold-hearted monster. Seijuurou’s percing stare of his heterochromatic eyes always unnerved him to no end. Seijuurou’s demeanor change drastically, almost looked like he was another person but with the same body as his. To add to his horror, this new Seijuurou would not hesitate to harm people if they dared defy him, Masaomi included. This new personality of him took Masaomi’s words to a more extreme level like it was his sole reason for his existence. 

Masaomi did not intended for it to turn out this way, but he was at fault no matter how much he wanted to deny it. When he discovered the fact, for the first time ever after his beloved wife died, Masaomi cried with all his might. He felt like his heart was crushed mercilessly and his pride was torn apart, leaving only his broken self. Agony, resentment, fear, regret. All sort of feelings came flooding his mind and entire being. His Seijuurou became like this because of him! If only Shiori was alive, Masaomi was sure she would scold him for being too hard on Seijuurou and prevented it from happened. But reality was not like what he had hope so. How he wished life had a rewind button then he could make everything right again. But he knew too well it was an impossible thing to ask for. If only he did not pushed Seijuurou too hard. If only they talked properly and found comfort in each other. If only he told Seijuurou it was okay to be weak, none of this would have happened. 

Masaomi sighed for the umpteenth time that day. He could not help but grimaced in pain whenever he recalled all those bad memories. Deep in his heart, he felt sorry for Seijuurou. Really. Just how much Seijuurou had suffered for all those times even he could not put it into words. Masaomi was too caught up in his own feelings and literally abandoned Seijuurou. So, for a child Seijuurou, he was unconsciously closed his heart to others and act on defense whenever he was on edge or his existence was questioned. For a child who had abandonment issue, it was expected for that child to develop an emotional and mental instability in the future. So, in Seijuurou’s case, he may create another identity which was the ideal impression of him which was a strong and absolute entity, as a replacement of his weak and coward self. 

Masaomi figured he should do something about it. There was no use crying over spilled milk. All he could do was watch over him and make sure he did not go overboard or worst killed someone in case they ever defied him. This Seijuurou was too unpredictable and most of the time he acts like everyone did not matter to him even a bit. Only those he deemed worthy might possessed a chance against him but as always he would win anyway without a doubt. After all, he was absolute, that was what he always said. 

Almost a year had passed. Seijuurou was still the same Seijuurou. Cold, intimidating and absolute. Now Seijuurou was in a first year of high school. It was a no surprised when Seijuurou told Masaomi he decided to attend Rakuzan High School, a prestigious high school in Kyoto, instead of other school in Tokyo. Afterall, Rakuzan was the best high school in Japan with its numerous achievement in all aspects. Furthermore, their basketball club is a powerhouse that win many tournaments. Of course, Seijuurou would choose only the best for him. 

Too caught up in his emotion, Masaomi was startled when he heard the knocking on his door. He straightened his body and present himself in a comfortable manner, like how a superior would. After giving his permission, the person enter his office with the notebook in his hand and greeted him. It was none other than Masaomi’s secretary.

“Pardon my intrusion” He said while bowing slightly. Masaomi nodded and ask him to go on doing what he was supposed to do. He opened the notebook and began reading out the schedule for the evening. 

“There will be a meeting with CEO of Ootori Group at 3pm in Minato Hotel to further discuss the current collaboration and then sign the agreement paper. Akashi-sama need to sign few more paperworks which need to be submit today and review the reports from the other departments as well. I believe that is all for this evening.” He closed the notebook and face Masaomi seated in front of him.

“And Seijuurou-sama already arrived at the mansion. I got a call from the head butler just now” He added afterwards.

“Is that so?” Masaomi nodded, acknowledge the news delivered to him. After dismissed the secretary, Masaomi pondered for a moment how he would face Seijuurou during dinner tonight. 

After all, it was almost 5 months since he last saw him and they only contacted by call or message. Seijuurou rarely came home to the main mansion in Tokyo since he was busy with student council duties and his basketball practices. This time he came back because Masaomi asked him to since they also needed to discuss a few things regarding the company and all. Not to mention he want to see Seijuurou and maybe spend some time with him while he was at it. Masaomi just hope everything will go smoothly from now on.


End file.
